Saturday, January 22, 2011

Mysterious Saturday Review: Arsenic and Old Paint

Annie Kincaid might have just made the worst business decision of her life. She joined forces with ex-art thief Michael X. She's not sure if the ex is true. At the moment, he's been MIA for a week. Annie doesn't know what to do next.

She's working on a restoration project one morning when she and her assistants hear screaming. They follow the screams and discover a man positioned in a bathtub - dead.

The work is for an old boys club with strict rules. Typically women aren't allowed in the club unless they've been invited by a member and vetted. Annie and her assistants must pack up and leave as the police start investigating the murder.

Annie gains two more projects from her business with Michael - one is to seek out information about a potential forged Gauguin and the other is to track down a rather large bronze statue.

My Thoughts: I love this series. This is the 4th one and has a very different look to it. I'm a huge fan of art from the Renaissance and Impressionism, so I love reading about restoring art or forging works of the Old Masters. I love the love triangle and the quirky side characters, especially those in the art world. There several encounters with dodgy characters. I love that Annie's own past is somewhat murky. I love the depth of the secrets, especially with the old boys club. All in all, there's plenty of twists, danger, and action to make this a fast paced read. I'm eager for the next book in the series.

Cover Thoughts: Love how it connects to the book, but misses the old cover style

Source: Inter-Library Loan

Fun Fact: Hailey Lind is the pseudonym of two sisters: Carolyn J Lawes and Julia Goodson-Lawes (a historian and an artist) Julia also writes mysteries under Juliet Blackwell

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