The Cloisters, Hays - B+

                     This fabulous novel set in what I believe is one of the most fascinating and intriguing places I have ever been, the medieval museum on Manhattan's far north side overlooking the Hudson.  It is part the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and was created by the Rockefellers in the 1930's.  In our story, a brilliant but clearly a country girl from Washington obtains a summer internship at the Cloisters. Ann works with Rachel, a young Harvard grad of considerable east side wealth and they report to Patrick the Curator, an equally wealthy scholar in his late forties. His obsession is understanding tarot cards and that is the project they collectively work on. Tarot cards have a crucial role in medieval spiritualism that scholars have been assessing for centuries. The gardening staff grows medieval herbs and Patrick decides that they can better understand the cards if they take a blend of the hallucinogens. It doesn't work out, as Patrick is found dead the following morning. The autopsy shows he was poisoned by belladonna. Was it the gardener Leo or Rachel, apparently an occasional lover of the deceased? Either way, Rachel and Ann pen an assessment of the cards that they know will make them famous. Fame is part of the astounding and astonishing ending. This is a must read.