The Master Craftsman by Kelli Stuart

The Master Craftsman
by Kelli Stuart

ISBN-13: 9780800740429
Paperback: 400 pages
Publisher: Revell
Released: April 5th 2022

Source: ebook review copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Book Description, Modified from Goodreads:
In 1917, Alma Pihl, a master craftsman in The House of Fabergé, was charged to protect one of the greatest secrets in Russian history--an unknown Fabergé Egg that Peter Karl Fabergé secretly created to honor his divided allegiance to both the people of Russia and the Imperial Czar's family. When Alma and her husband escaped Russia for their native Finland in 1921, she took the secret with her, guarding her past connection to the Romanov family.

Three generations later, world-renowned treasure hunter Nick Laine is sick and fears the secret of the missing egg will die with him. With time running out, he entrusts the mission of retrieving the egg to his estranged daughter, Ava, who has little idea of the dangers she is about to face.


My Review:
The Master Craftsman is a suspense novel set in 1917 and in modern day. The sections set in 1904 to 1917 in Russia followed Fabergé, his wife, and those who worked with him to make jewelry, including a designer named Alma. The author wove in setting and historical details that brought this section alive in my imagination. There's a lot of detail about the different Fabergé eggs. The characters were complex and had to make hard choices as the communists came into power.

In the modern day, the characters were not as well developed. Ava certainly noticed things, like clues or when things didn't seem quite right. However, she didn't act on any misgivings. The whole treasure hunt seemed mismanaged considering her father was a renown treasure hunter. He apparently didn't double check his arrangements, think to tell her how to identify her co-workers when they arrived in Russia, and seemed more focused on giving her an experience (dress up in different disguises each day and hack into a museum computer before knowing if the information they wanted was digitalized or even simply asking first if they could look at the documents for research). It was like the father was trying to make it like a movie and, oops, it ended up with an adventure movie's ending (part of which Ava jokingly predicted). I found the real danger in the historical section much more compelling.

There was no sex. There were a couple uses of bad language. I liked the historical story enough to recommend the whole thing, but I wouldn't have minded if the modern section hadn't even been included.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.