When Adam and Eve Castle bring their miniature dioramas to Denver to train cops in crime-scene investigation, a string of baffling murders follows. Called in to solve the crimes depicted in the dioramas, paintings conservator Lily Sparks discerns connections between them and the real murders which draw her into the orbit of a killer intent on going from master of a tiny universe to playing God.Each diorama parallels a real crime. But why is the killer reenacting the diorama murders on a life-sized stage? Are the dioramas roadmaps for the crimes, or are the victims being targeted based on the homes and lifestyles the dioramas represent? To catch the killer, Lily must now embark on a deadly new game of house played by a psychopath’s rules.
Object Lessons is Stephanie Kane’s third crime novel set in the art world featuring Lily Sparks. It follows Automat and A Perfect Eye.
"A whodunit that delivers an excellent gallery of characters and captivating historical tidbits."
COLD CASE STORY is based on a series of blog posts about a 1973 murder in which I played an unwitting part. It’s also the true story behind Quiet Time, my first published mystery novel, which played its own unwitting role in bringing that murder roaring back to life.
“There are many instances in the overall investigation that grip the reader’s imagination and make this follow-up study to the novel compelling. It is Kane’s overriding need to confront the truth that matters. Kane
breathes convincing details into the real-life relatives and other characters whose lives were overturned by the killing.”
Who is the enigmatic woman in Edward Hopper’s famous painting, Automat? When the young actress playing her is brutally murdered at the launch of The Denver Art Museum’s blockbuster Hopper exhibition, Conservator of Paintings Lily Sparks feels compelled to use her special gift of discernment to solve the crime. Her perfect eye tells her that just as the celebrated artist kept painting the same iconic woman, the killer must keep killing her.
The stony blonde in Hopper’s paintings never aged. As Lily’s hunt takes her from the artist’s early years in Paris to her own museum’s exhibition to the theatrical company bringing the paintings to life, she realizes the man in Hopper’s paintings also holds clues to the killer’s identity. Is stepping into a painting herself the only way Lily can stop him?
Automat is Stephanie Kane’s second crime novel set in the art world featuring Lily Sparks. It follows A Perfect Eye, which Kirkus Reviews calls, “An artistic thriller that will keep readers guessing.”
“Kane delivers yet again for fans of fine art and whodunnits.”
"Wonderfully disorientating"
“Automat is an intriguing mystery, and you will also learn a lot about artist Edward Hopper.”
“Automat is an intense drama that keeps you on the edge of your seat.”
Some are born with a perfect palate, others with perfect pitch. Lily Sparks was born with a perfect eye. As Conservator of Paintings at the Denver Art Museum, she uses her keen visual powers to restore masterpieces and detect what’s authentic and what is not. When the museum’s billionaire benefactor is brutally murdered and Lily is dragged into the case, the grisly tableau stuns her: it’s the human embodiment of the museum’s prized landscape by famed Impressionist Gustave Caillebotte
“An artistic thriller that will keep readers guessing and please the author’s fans.”
“Lily Sparks’ keen powers of observation and Stephanie Kane’s snappy, hard-edged writing make for a highly original mystery that provides a whole gallery full of heart-pounding chills.”
Extreme Indifference and Seeds Of Doubt have won a Colorado Book Award for Mystery and Colorado Authors League Awards for Genre Fiction.
Author BioSee all the Stephanie Kane BooksCheck out the Cold Case Story Blog
COLORADO AUTHORS LEAGUE AWARD WINNER
COLORADO BOOK AWARD WINNER
COLORADO AUTHORS LEAGUE AWARD WINNER
Cold Case Story Blog explores how storytelling shapes a cold case. What happens when fantasy and fiction collide with a cold hard crime and a justice system designed to avenge it?
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