Death in the Abstract

March 27, 2017
In Barnes’s uneven sequel to 2016’s The Fine Art of Murder, retired police chief and passionate painter Katherine Sullivan—who left Edina, Minn., for an artists’ colony in Taos, N.Mex.—again rushes back to Edina to help someone she cares about. Ex-cop and widower Nathan Walker, a Denzel Washington look-alike who owns a security firm, has gone missing. (Katie’s late husband, a slain cop, took on Nathan as a partner when other white cops gave him the cold shoulder.) Not trusting her successor, dour Chief Bostwick, to find Nathan, Katie eagerly un-retires and rises to the challenge. Meanwhile, a local woman’s murder may be tied to Nathan’s disappearance. Old enough to delight in the rare day when nothing hurts or aches, alive enough to yearn for more than Nathan’s friendship, devoted to her daughter and grandkids yet wanting her own life, Katie is a welcome addition to the cozy genre. On the other hand, too many quirky characters and subplots dilute the suspense. And Taos, enticingly described, is a tease.

March 15, 2017
A retired police chief uses her skills to help out an old friend in trouble.Katherine Sullivan (The Fine Art of Murder, 2016) retired from Edina, Minnesota, to Taos to pursue her dream of being an artist. Her recently divorced daughter, Lizzie, and her two grandchildren still live in Edina, along with her dear friend Nathan Walker. Nathan, a Denzel Washington look-alike, is a retired cop who started his own security firm. When Katherine gets a panicky call from his staff saying he hasn't been seen for three days, she rushes back home from New Mexico. Certain that Nathan would never just skip out on his business, she joins his team to brainstorm possible suspects. While the others are out looking for clues and dogging Nathan's footsteps, Katherine visits Dean Bostwick, the current chief. When Dean worked for her, he was often disrespectful. Although he's more willing to work with her now, he's caught up in the murder of a family friend and has few officers to spare. One of the calls Nathan made on the Friday before he vanished was at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Larkin, who live in a new high-end home in the middle of a construction zone. The vibe Katherine gets from Mr. Larkin leads her to dig deeper. Meantime, staffers find Nathan's car undamaged but partially hidden in a local park and learn that he left the parking lot outside his last call of the day with a man in a hoodie, perhaps under duress. The second case for Barnes' heroine uses a relatively simple mystery to showcase the many talents of a tough and resilient woman.

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