Art Meets Love and Murder

Art Meets Love and Murder

by Saralyn Richard

I’m not sure when my fascination with art began. Perhaps it was in seventh grade, when Ms. Gahagan incorporated a fine arts curriculum into our elective class. Many students groaned. They’d taken art class to get away from reading and writing—pounding clay was more satisfying then. But I enjoyed learning about artists and techniques and movements, and I fell in love with the Impressionists.

In college, I majored in English, but my curriculum required me to choose areas of concentration for my elective choices. I chose art history, and then my fate was sealed. From then on, I frequented museums, admired the works of the famous and not-yet-famous artists in my path, and even harbored ideas of “taking up” art, myself, at some future date, when I had the time.

Over the years, I’ve been fortunate enough to have traveled to some of the most famous museums in the world, and each one has left its mark on me. One of the most interesting of the small museums I’ve enjoyed is the Brandywine River Fine Arts Museum in the beautiful and rustic Brandywine Valley, Pennsylvania. The museum highlights the works of local naturalist, impressionist, and modern artists, particularly those in and around the Wyeth family.

Brandywine Valley is the locale of my Detective Parrott Mystery series, and, while MURDER IN THE ONE PERCENT centers around the equestrian crowd, A PALETTE FOR LOVE AND MURDER deals with the artists. The book opens with an art heist. Someone has stolen two valuable paintings that artist Blake Allmond had earmarked for donation to the National Arts Club in New York. Allmond is a reknown painter whose depictions of water have earned him notoriety and fame.

Detective Parrott is assigned to investigate the theft from the artist’s own studio, and the investigation puts him in the milieu of artists, collectors, dealers, teachers, and warehousers. Soon theft leads to murder, a treasure hunt for a lost masterpiece, and a palette full of secrets.

Throughout the mystery, readers are led to wonder at the value of art, its power to transform. If you love exploring art museums, as I do, put the Brandywine museum on your bucket list. If you love reading about art, check out A PALETTE FOR LOVE AND MURDER. It’s a page-turner with a lot of ’art, a brush with death, a landscape for murder—well, you get the picture.

 

Award-winning mystery and children’s book author, Saralyn Richard strives to make the world a better place, one book at a time. Her books, NAUGHTY NANA, MURDER IN THE ONE PERCENT, and A PALETTE FOR LOVE AND MURDER, have delighted children and adults, alike. A member of International Thriller Writers and Mystery Writers of America, Saralyn teaches creative writing at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, and continues to write mysteries. Reviews, media, and tour schedule may be found at http://saralynrichard.com, or check out her author page at https://www.amazon.com/Saralyn-Richard/e/B0787F6HD4/ref. Now meeting virtually with book clubs and other organizations.