January 22, 2026

Margaret’s New Look, by Katherine Ashenburg

Margaret’s New Look, Katherine Ashenburg’s third novel is a veritable feast—both an ode to and an interrogation of fashion history; as well as a consideration of Vichy France, European Jewish history, and the Holocaust; a contemporary portrait of catty workplace politics, and a mystery set in a museum with some truly delicious detective fiction allusions. As curator Margaret Abrams prepares for an upcoming exhibit featuring items from Christian Dior’s legendary collection, she is distracted by calls from a reporter asking about Dior’s ties to Nazis forces in occupied Paris earlier in his career. And then strange items begin arriving in the mail, questions persist about Margaret’s own family’s Jewish history, and then items from the exhibit begin to go missing, turning up in strange places elsewhere in the museum. Who is behind the sabotage? Is it possible to appreciate beauty for simply beauty’s sake, or must Dior’s collection be embroiled with history and politics, just like so many more sordid things? Margaret is going to have to learn to be unsettled, both personally and professionally, as she gets to the bottom of the mystery in an effort to save the exhibit, although she’s aided by her detective fiction-writing husband and twelve-year-old twin daughters who have their own predilection solving puzzles just like this one. Moving, surprising, and full of fascinating research, Margaret’s New Look is also fun.