BLUE SMOKE AND MURDER
Elizabeth Lowell
William Morrow
Romantic Suspense
ISBN: 9780061566301

Interested in Western art? Maybe? When you pick up this romantic suspense thriller, BLUE SMOKE AND MURDER, you definitely will be. Jill Breck is a river guide who saves the life of Lane Faroe. His father, Joe, tucks a card in Jill’s waterproof ditty bag and tells her to call whenever she has a problem that worries her. Readers might remember Lane and his parents from Elizabeth Lowell’s THE WRONG HOSTAGE. Both now work for St. Kilda Consulting Group.

When a mysterious fire ends the life of her great aunt, Modesty Breck, Jill inherits the dry dusty ranch and original homestead in Arizona. She arrives at the ranch to find a note from under a covered bucket of water near the ancient long-handled pump in the kitchen. Jill knows that this is from her great aunt, as it says, “Go to your old hiding place. Life isn’t as safe as it seems to the young.” Something must be up.

And it is. Jill’s great aunt has left her a number of unsigned paintings that she remembers seeing as a child. When she found them, it made her Aunt Modesty furious with her. Now, as a former art history and fine arts major, she understands that these Western landscapes capture the sprit of the West, but they may also have an important value. She discovers a letter from a high-end art gallery about an unsigned painting addressed to her aunt. They had misplaced the painting that she sent, alluding that it was not worth much, and offered a small amount of money to settle. Jill thinks that the only reason her aunt sent off the painting was that she needed money.

However, Jill takes it upon herself to photograph three of the small paintings and send a jpeg off to a few well-known art galleries. It turns out that this mystery of the missing painting is not as simple as it seems. Jill tries to meet up with an art collector, only to find her car ransacked and the painting she brought cut up. A note is left saying STAY OUT OF IT OR DIE.

Her next decision is to call Joe Faroe, who sends out a St. Kilda’s consultant, Zach Balfour. Zach is supposed to be on vacation but is close by and shows up at her door. He also happens to know a lot about art, western art and the art world. He’s the perfect man to help protect Jill and her paintings until they figure out what is going on.

What is it about these paintings that is causing so much furor? They are unsigned and possibly done by Thomas Dunstan, a legendary Western painter who had been the lover of Jill’s grandmother. If they are proven to be Thomas’s paintings, they are worth a fortune. Could it be that some art collectors have gotten wind of these unsigned copies and are hoping to buy up cheap or steal them? But why the death threats?

As Zach and Jill begin to uncover and discover the story behind the paintings in hopes of authenticating them, the two find themselves involved in the high stakes business of art collecting and the cold multi-million dollar galleries in the art circuit. They both come to realize that “art is like everything else. It’s worth what someone’s willing to pay for it.” As they try to outsmart a killer who is ruthless in this game of money, lies and threats, they hope they end up with their lives.

This story is full of the twists, turns and intrigue that readers have come to expect from an Elizabeth Lowell novel. Readers are kept on the edge of their comfortable chairs as they turn the pages to find out what happens to Zach and Jill. And as for the romance --- well, the sexual tension between these two keeps you hoping that this couple may find that happily ever together.

    --- Reviewed by Jennifer McCord

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