The Art Collector - by Susan Bacon (Paperback)

About the Book

"An intriguing whodunit with memorable characters." Kirkus Reviews (Recommended review)

Book Synopsis

". . . COMPELLING . . . " - KIRKUS REVIEWS

A Warhol protégé, a Manhattan murder and a long-hidden truth

It is February 1987. Seal Larsen is a photographer, denizen of New York's downtown scene and the subject of one of Andy Warhol's short films. When she dies in a suspicious fall from the 15th floor of her Manhattan apartment building, her friend and neighbor, Emma Quinn, is determined to find out what happened.

A history professor at Columbia University with connections to the intelligence community, Emma soon realizes how little she really knows about her friend. Exploring Seal's life, her work, her past, Emma makes her way down to rural Tennessee, putting herself at risk. It's there, on an isolated 2,000-acre farm, that she begins to grasp the tragedy that defined Seal's life and the truth about her death.

A sequel to The History Teacher, Susan Bacon's award-winning political mystery, The Art Collector is an intrigue, a puzzle, a plot-twister. It is also an exploration of the value of art and the people who make it and of the culture that fueled Manhattan's art boom in the second half of the twentieth century.

Review Quotes

"The Art Collector is not only an intriguing mystery story that draws you in and keeps you guessing but also a vibrant portrayal of the downtown art scene in Manhattan in the '70s and '80s, and the Deep South back in the '60s. Weaving Seal's voice into the narrative, Susan Bacon creates a magnetic character-an original and true creative spirit. Having lived through both eras in both of those places, I found Susan's writing and descriptions to be so visual and so real that they brought back vivid memories of those times."

- Ebet Roberts, Legendary photographer of Manhattan's music scene

"In Bacon's novel, a 38-year-old New Yorker's friend is murdered, and she soon discovers the many secrets she was keeping.

It's 1987: Andy Warhol has recently died, the Iran-Contra Affair is on the news, and artist Seal Larson lies dead on Manhattan concrete. Emma Quinn, a history professor at Columbia University, had found a lot of common ground with Seal, her 30-something neighbor. Like Emma, the visual artist lived alone, and she shared Emma's passion for art, music, and nightlife. The academic had thought that they were great friends and trusted each other, but upon Seal's sudden, violent death, she learns her friend's real name: Lucille Lawson. Emma's determined to find justice for the friend she thought she knew-even if she must dive into years of secrets. Helping Emma investigate are her friend Bill Kidman, who's with the CIA, and her boyfriend, Angus McLearan of British intelligence. Emma finds out Seal's mother, an art collector,

wasn't living in England, nor was she estranged from her daughter; she actually died years ago from cancer and was originally from Tennessee. Seal-or rather, Lucille-has just one living relative, her Aunt Jenny. As Emma digs into Seal's connection to Warhol, and her unexpected financial situation, she comes closer to finding a solution to the mystery. Bacon expertly interweaves details of the time period into the characters' backstories, with Seal effectively narrating the story of her life in some chapters: "I wonder. Will anyone even care that I'm gone?" Emma's chapters, told from the third-person perspective, feel as if one is observing a real person, and they effectively show her trying to find her friend's killer while also dealing with the political atmosphere in which her friends live. The mystery is compelling and takes unexpected turns, and it's supported by a steady pace and unique characters. Bacon also provides a satisfying ending-not only to the mystery, but also to a subplot involving Emma's personal life. An intriguing whodunit with memorable characters."

- Kirkus Reviews (Recommended review)