blue smoke and murder

Rating:
Date: 2008-06-30
Art, romance, and a race against time
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

Rating:
Date: 2008-06-23
Blue Smoke and Murder
I have read every thing Miss Lowell has written, including what she used to write in the category series. I have to say that I was disappointed in her making the character an ex-Mormon Fundamentalist. That's a contradiction. "Mormons" are LDS and haven't practiced polygamy since 1890. About the only thing we have in common with Fundamentalists is sharing part of a name (FLDS). And the only time I have ever heard of "Mormon" tea, was when as a child my Dad steeped Chaparral brush to drink to clear his sinuses. I call diet Coke....diet Coke. Course, I was raised in Las Vegas. To me the character spent too much time distrusting all men and there wasn't much time to develop a romance between the characters. I will forget this book, except to remember its' inaccuracies, but I will look forward to her next one.

Rating:
Date: 2008-06-19
Always worth reading....
I've read every Elizabeth Lowell book (including those under other pseudonyms).

I read this book in one afternoon. I didn't want to put it down. So, I would have to say it was worth reading.

The quailty of an Elizabeth Lowell book is very high and the story and background is always very intersting.

Why not more stars? I kept waiting for something more in this book that did not materialize.

This book reminded me way too much of Die in Plain Sight.
Female inherits paintings from relative
Paintings may be forgeries
Female(who is a talented painter in her own right) is suspected / accused of painting them herself)
Secret reveled by the paintings that someone will kill to keep
Male lead is a colector of something other than traditional art

I found it fairly predictible. I wasn't drawn into the characters as I usually am. In fact, I found the male lead very one-dimensional. Usually, the main charachters (both) have a lot of depth. I didn't feel that way while reading this book.

In short, if you were only going to read one of Elizabeth's Lowells books, pick another one. (Die in Plain Sight was MUCH better in my opinion). Irrigardless of its faults, it is still a better book than most on the book store shelf.

Rating:
Date: 2008-06-19
Couldn't wait for it to be over!
Not at all up to the usual standard of St. Kilda books. The characters were unremarkable and sometimes foolish (not checking the sat phone for a bug right away was just plain unbelievable, especially for operatives of that caliber!) They also droned on way too long about the ins and outs of the art world. It was almost like listening to a western art appreciation manual, with snippets of a story woven in. I purchased the audio book and it was SO not worth the money! Rent it from the library if you must, but I recommend not wasting the time it would take to read it, let alone the money to purchase it.

Rating:
Date: 2008-06-15
Characters are great but plot falls flat
I am a devoted Elizabeth Lowell fan and own everyone of her books that I can find. I am sorry to say that this book was really hard to finish because the story was not all that interesting.

In her usual voice, Lowell does a fantastic job of describing her main characters. Jill and Zach are an interesting couple who have a palpable attraction for each other. Lowell has shows you how they meet and gives you circumstances that unite the couple for a good cause (i.e., staying alive long enough to unravel the mystery of Jill's art inheritance).

I lost interest in this book about 50% of the way into it. At that point, the story didn't really leave any mysteries for the reader as I had already figured out the rest of the book. Instead, I felt like I was waiting for Lowell to get on with it so I could go to my next book.

This book is probably the least satisfying read out of all her books. Since Lowell doesn't publish very often, I was pretty disappointed in how uninteresting this book was written.

For other Lowell readers, I would recommend checking this book out at your local library and not spending money on it until it comes out in paperback.

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