Alive in Shape and Color: 16 Paintings by Great Artists and the Stories They Inspired

Unfortunately, I did not enjoy this collection as much as I did last year's: IN SUNLIGHT OR IN SHADOW, which contained stories centered around the art of Edward Hopper. This time around, the authors got to choose whichever artist/painting they liked, upon which to base their stories.

If you had to guess which artist upon whom Michael Connolly based his story, it would be easy for anyone familiar with his work to do so. For those of you who are not familiar with Connolly's fictional detective Harry Bosch, his name comes from the painter Hieronymous Bosch, and this story was inspired by Bosch's work "The Garden of Earthly Delights," (the third panel). This was my favorite story within-short, sharp and packing a punch.

Jeffrey Deaver also show more impressed me with his story inspired by prehistoric cave drawings at Lascaux. This clever little revenge tale takes place in the present and perhaps captures the intricacies and competition within the world of archaeology.

S.J. Rozan's story was inspired by "The Great Wave" by Hokusai. I was not previously familiar with Rozan or Hokusai, but now I feel compelled to learn more about them both. This tale was another gut puncher, but somehow I finished it feeling satisfied and happy for the protagonist.



Lastly, Joe Lansdale's tale was inspired by Norman Rockwell's "First Trip to the Beauty Shop." Even though the painting is perky and cute, the story is definitely not. It was sad, poignant, and scary-all at the same time. I enjoyed the heck out of it.

All told, that's 4 stories that impressed me a great deal. That's pretty good for any old anthology, but I expected so much more from this one, based on my experience with IN SUNLIGHT OR IN SHADOW. Perhaps it was a case of being disappointed by my own high expectations, or perhaps it's just that these tales didn't work as well for me as they did for other people. Whatever the case, I'm glad I read this anthology, otherwise I would have been wondering what I had missed.

Recommended!

You can get a copy here: https://www.amazon.com/Alive-Shape-Color-Paintings-Inspired-ebook/dp/B071HY9T33/...

*Thank you to Edelweiss and the publisher for the e-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion. This is it.* show less

Intriquing premise but it didn’t pan out for me. I am not a Mystery buff, (especially police procedurals) so finding most of the stories were by mystery authors was disappointing. I did enjoy Block’s macho tale, inspired by Michaelangelo’s David, and Santlofer’s Gaslight (as well as its Magritte painting).

A wonderful collection that I'm honored to be in. Joe Lansdale's Charlie the Barber needs his own book.