Shooting
Gallery
An Art Lover's
Mystery
Hailey Lind
Signet (Paperback)
ISBN-10: 0-451-21973-2 (0451219732)
ISBN-13: 978-0-451-21973-2 (9780451219732)
Publication Date: October 2006
List Price: $6.99
Synopsis (from the publisher): Modernism isn't Annie's thing, but even she is surprised to discover that the "sculpture" in a prestigious gallery's grisly new exhibition is an all-too-real corpse—the artist's. Meanwhile, a Chagall painting is stolen from the Brock Museum, and Annie's old friend Bryan is accused of being in on the fix. To track down the missing Chagall, she'll need the dubious assistance of a certain sexy art thief. And if Michael—or whatever his real name may be—isn't distraction enough, Annie's mother shows up in town, acting strangely. Annie's got to solve these mysteries, and fast—because art is long, but life can be very, very short.
Review:
Annie Kincaid continues to balance personal and professional
relationships, faux finishing and art forgeries, and murder and mayhem
in Shooting Gallery,
the second mystery in this engaging series by Hailey Lind.
Annie's mother, Beverly, plays a pivotal role in Shooting Gallery.
Though there is no obvious connection to a dead sculptor or to a
painting stolen from the Brock Museum, Beverly's unannounced trip to San Francisco and subsequent actions are a mystery to Annie. Though
relatively minor, this subplot is often more affecting than the more
conspicuous mysteries in the book.
Lind keeps the pace of Shooting
Gallery brisk, though at times glosses over plot points
that could use a bit more explanation. The minor detail of how the
corpse of Seamus McGraw comes to be hanging in the gallery's garden,
for example, remains unclear. There are light comedic episodes
scattered throughout, but the final act incongruously degenerates into
slapstick, saved only by the touching revelations by Annie's mother.
Lind maintains the practice, first used in Feint of Art, of
prefacing each chapter with delightful quotes from Grandpapa Georges.
An example of these insightful, provocative, and often very amusing
comments: "Salvador Dali is said to have signed tens of thousands of
blank pieces of paper for lithographs he had never seen, much less
created. For this brilliant attempt to evade poverty he has been dubbed
a forger of his own work."
While fans of art-themed mysteries will definitely enjoy Shooting Gallery,
with its insider references to great art, artists, and "restorers", the
book should also appeal to anyone who enjoys an entertaining story.
Special thanks to Hailey Lind for providing an ARC of Shooting Gallery for this review.
Review Copyright © 2007 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved.
Mysteries in this series ...
Feint
of Art
Signet (Mass Market Paperback), 2006
ISBN-10: 0-451-21699-7 (0451216997)
ISBN-13: 978-0-451-21677-1 (9780421216991)
Shooting
Gallery
Signet (Mass Market Paperback), 2006
ISBN-10: 0-451-21973-2 (0451219732)
ISBN-13: 978-0-451-21973-2 (9780451219732)
Brush
With Death
Signet (Mass Market Paperback), 2007
ISBN-10: 0-451-22179-6 (0451221796)
ISBN-13: 978-0-451-22179-7 (9780451221797)
Omnimystery keywords for Shooting Gallery ...
Location(s) referenced: San Francisco.