Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Arsenic and Old Paint-Hailey Lind

Arsenic and Old Paint
Hailey Lind
Perseverance, Sep 9 2010, $14.95
ISBN 9781564744906

In San Francisco, former forger turned decorative artist Annie Kincaid and her two assistants restore an exclusive men's club housed in a historic brownstone in the Nob Hill section. They are interrupted when they hear a scream. The three restorers head down a flight of stairs to the source. There they find a maid looking in horror at a man in the bathtub with a sword in his chest.

SFPD Inspector Annette Crawford leads the investigation starting with warning Annie to butt out as they have butted heads before. Meanwhile Annie's art mentor “Uncle” Anton Woznikowicz is very ill from arsenic poisoning and an insurance adjuster wants to hire her to locate a stolen erotic painting.

Aptly titled, the newest Art Lover's mystery (see Brush with Death) is a wonderful tale as Annie connects the dots between the bathtub homicide and the attempted murder of her uncle. She vows vengeance on the culprit while Crawford wants her to chill and stay out of her way. Readers will relish Annie’s efforts as she ignores the cop and tries to get her lover alleged art thief Michael X. Johnson to help her. Annie and the support cast including San Francisco make the whodunit fun.

Harriet Klausner

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