Shirley J. Adult Fiction Painters, Wood Workers, Free Thinkers, a former cop and Murder
Death of an Artist by Kate Wilhelm 288 pages
Set in Oregon with lots of description to color the mental view for you of a small coastal town where everyone pretty much knows everybody else but a great getaway from the outside world. Stef is an artist who refuses to sell her work. She likes to show it but never sells anything by choice. She is on her 5th husband (free thinker/free spirit that she is) who isn't a favorite of her mother, Marnie nor her daughter, Vanessa (Van). Turns out the jerk had dollar signs in his eyes when he met Marnie and begins selling some of her art without telling her. A big blowout ensues when she finds out. Once the LOUD argument starts, Van and Marnie fine other places to be. Now if that were me, and that was my mother or my daughter, I would be an arms length away at her side or near enough to let her soon to be EX she had backup if needed. But they both walk out and leave her to it not wanting to listen in and going on past break ups where Stef was more than capable of giving her old man at the time, the boot. Next thing you know they get the message that Stef "fell down the stairs" and died. Knowing full well Stef went up and down those stairs a million times a day and never had a problem. Knowing that Vanessa's son hadn't been home and no toys were left out to trip on. And Marnie knowing that the painting, Dale Oliver (current jerk in Stef's life), says she was carrying down the stairs when she tripped, was never upstairs to need carrying anywhere. It was on the lower level already in storage. Ex cop looking for a new life in woodworking, Tony's help is enlisted as an unofficial P.I. to investigate the circumstances that Marnie and Van believe were more than suspicious and that Dale murdered Stef. But can they prove it? Good story. Likeable characters and the reader might learn some things about painting and woodworking. I recommend this one to teens on up.
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