The Haunted Artist
Julian Peale Art-Crime Mystery, No. 4
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THE FUNERAL HAD ended at the gray-stone church, its old steeple piercing the New England sky. For more than a century, the old Methodist outpost had been a fixture in the former industrial town of Lynn, just north of Boston. Colleen Mason took one more long look into the open coffin, a final few moments with her older brother Samuel. He lay there in that strange peace called death. Now she was the last of the Mason family. “Well, Sam, we’re all back in Lynn,” she said, her eyes fixed on his pale face. “You brought us all back.” . . . Years earlier, she and Sam had both left the old hometown with big plans for their lives. Colleen had never been quite sure about Samuel’s intentions, free-spirit artist that he was. He hadn’t kept in touch, except that one time. The funeral planning had fallen to her, so she had kept it simple. The minister, who knew her parents, led the way. A retired schoolteacher close to the family gave Sam’s brief eulogy. “As an artist,” she concluded, “Sam had briefly become a celebrity, but he never lost touch with his people back home.” It was a kind word, Colleen thought, although the last part was not exactly true. She’d only learned of his “celebrity” after he’d died.
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About the Book
The death of Sam Mason, a young painter, shakes a small New England town. Police say suicide. But his sister can’t believe he would do such a thing. She enlists the help of Castelli and Associates, which specializes in art crime, and Julian Peale is on the case. With Sam gone, his paintings—seemingly lost, hidden, or even a mirage—now stir a race to find out what happened, if not to cash in on his legacy. Art dealers see Sam as a “late, great artist” in the making. They’re all after whatever of Sam’s mysterious works they can find. Delving into the artist’s past, Peale traces the threads of Sam’s life across middle America, from Pittsburgh and Savannah to St. Louis and Atlanta. As a struggling artist, it seems Sam had fallen into bad company, beginning with a shady art dealer and then a small-time duo of Albanian crooks. Sam had also been dabbling in the dark arts. Peale’s investigation takes him to art schools, urban scenes, the high-end art market, and a migrant community trying to do good—except for a few gone bad. The missing paintings remain a puzzle until the end, a time when bigger mysteries—and darker forces—unfold when least expected.
About the Author
Larry Witham is the author of nineteen books, an award-winning journalist and by avocation a fine art painter. This is his sixth novel, the fourth in the Julian Peale series. He lives in the Maryland suburbs of Washington D.C. Visit him at www.larrywitham.com.