by Maria Hummel
First published 2019
Magazine editor Maggie Richter watches the crowd gather at the Rocque Museum for Kim Lord's explosive new exhibition. Lord has painted herself as murdered women throughout history. The Black Dahlia. Chandra Levy. Nicole Brown Simpson. The portraits challenge how society views violence against women. Los Angeles art patrons fill the gallery. The museum needs this show to survive financially. But Kim Lord never arrives at her own opening. Hours pass. Then days. Lord has disappeared completely. Police focus on Greg Shaw Ferguson, an ambitious gallerist who also happens to be Maggie's former boyfriend. The art world buzzes with theories. Collectors, critics, and dealers all had reasons to want Lord gone. Maggie starts investigating on her own. She discovers that everyone around her, including those she trusts most, could be hiding something deadly. The search for Kim Lord pulls Maggie deeper into an industry built on money and deception.
Genres: mystery, crime, contemporary, thriller
Vibes: dark, emotional, fast-paced, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: amateur-sleuth, deception, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Los Angeles, Rocque Museum
Period: contemporary
384 pages · Paperback · Quercus
Content warnings: violence