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Loading... Art's Bloodby Vicki Lane
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Fiction.
Mystery.
Suspense.
Thriller.
HTML:North Carolinaâ??s hills are a crazy quilt of old farmsteads and new beginnings, of locals, strangers, artists, and new age wanderersâ?¦.Here Elizabeth Goodweather has made her life, a still-young widow who moves easily between the gentrified world of Asheville and old-timers in their hollows. But when a flamboyant performance artist is murdered, and Elizabeth learns the amazing history of a magnificent piece of folk art, she gets caught between her two worldsâ??and in the middle of an agonizing mystery. A young woman, taking her artwork to the breaking point, has brought a history of unexplained deaths and dangerous liaisons into Elizabethâ??s life. Courted by an ex-cop, trying to protect her love-struck nephew, Elizabeth knows that danger has entered her peaceful world. But she canâ??t guess how deadly the threat isâ??nor how masterfully a k No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.6Literature English (North America) American fiction 21st CenturyLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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The Appalachian Mountains to the west of Asheville, North Carolina, are a mix of old and new: people who have lived there for generations, newcomers who've moved in, artists, New Age devotees, old farms, and new businesses. Over twenty years ago, Elizabeth Goodweather and her husband bought Full Circle Farm, eventually turning it into an organic herb and flower farm. Elizabeth moves easily between the worlds of Asheville and the old-timers who live back in their hollows. She's been a widow for six years, and only recently has she found her interest piqued in another man.
Although the farm takes most of her time, Elizabeth finds the ladies at the library to be very persuasive. Before she knows what's happening, she's agreed to round up quilts for an exhibit, and she finds the history behind one of them to be fascinating. At the same time, her youngest daughter talks her into attending performance art done by three young neighbors who live across the road from Full Circle Farm. When one of the young artists is murdered, Elizabeth finds herself caught between two mysteries: the true story behind a beautiful quilt-- and of murder.
Once again I've fallen under the spell of the world and of the characters that Vicki Lane has created. Elizabeth's the type of character I could easily call friend, and I like to "watch" her do her chores around the farm. She's level-headed, intelligent, kind, and not prone to being a clothes horse. And any time Elizabeth wants to visit octogenarian Miss Birdie on her nearby farm, I'd definitely want to tag along. Miss Birdie may be an old mountain woman, but there's a lot about her that reminds me of those sharp-as-a-tack eightysomethings I grew up amongst in small town central Illinois.
Art's Blood fully explores the corrosive theme of jealousy with two major plot lines. One story takes place in the 1930s and focuses on the people involved in the making of a wonderful quilt. Through journal entries written by one of the survivors of those days, we see how the seeds of disaster were planted.
The second plot line involves Kyra, a beautiful young artist living across the road from Full Circle Farm. Traumatized as a child, she is very fragile, very mercurial-- and her family is very protective of her. Elizabeth's nephew, Ben, becomes infatuated with Kyra, as Elizabeth's daughter, Laurel, draws her mother deeper into the art world in Asheville. As the story progresses, the two threads begin to weave together into a tale that is tragic, haunting, deadly.... Nothing good ever comes of jealousy.
If you enjoy reading books that give you a chance to become well acquainted with the setting, the history, and an excellent cast of characters as well as telling tales that persuade you to keep reading into the wee hours of the morning, there's only one thing you can do: pick up a Full Circle Farm mystery by Vicki Lane. ( )