Light on bone

Light on bone

Kathryn Lasky

Book - 2022

Kathryn Lasky has written an exciting new adult amateur sleuth mystery set in New Mexico in the 1930s. The sleuth is Georgia O'Keefe, who actually did suffer a nervous breakdown in 1933 when her husband Alfred Stieglitz had a somewhat public affair, was hospitalized for psychiatric treatment, and then traveled to the Ghost Ranch in New Mexico to paint. O'Keefe was approaching the peak of her fame and success, having just sold a painting for a record price. The narrative begins when she discovers the slain body of a priest in the desert. The plot includes several other murders, Georgia's burgeoning romance with the local sheriff, an international espionage plot involving Charles Lindbergh (who is staying at the ranch with his ...wife Anne), and lots of intricate twists and turns leading to a thoroughly unforeseen denouement. The strength of this story is how Lasky's elegant writing captures the emotional depth of this artist's turmoil and so stunningly reveals O'Keeffe's perception of the landscape that moves her to paint. It is not simply a who-dunnit mystery, but much more: It is a narrative of healing and resurrection of spirit.

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MYSTERY/Lasky Kathryn
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Location Call Number   Status
1st Floor MYSTERY/Lasky Kathryn Checked In
Subjects
O'Keeffe, Georgia, > 1887-1986 > Fiction.
Lindbergh, Charles A. > (Charles Augustus), > 1902-1974 > Fiction.
Women painters > Fiction.
Air pilots > Fiction.
Murder > Investigation > Fiction.
New Mexico > Fiction.
Detective and mystery fiction.
Spy fiction.
Biographical fiction.
Historical fiction.
Novels.
Genres
Detective and mystery fiction
Spy fiction
Biographical fiction
Historical fiction
Novels
Published
Norwalk, CT : Woodhall Press [2022]
Language
English
Main Author
Kathryn Lasky (author)
Physical Description
viii, 289 pages ; 24 cm
ISBN
9781954907041
Contents unavailable.
Review by Library Journal Review

Before dawn in July 1934, Georgia O'Keeffe heads out from her New Mexico casita at Ghost Ranch to look for a horse's skull she had seen in the desert. Instead, she finds vultures feeding on a man's body. It takes Sheriff Ryan McCaffrey an hour to arrive from Santa Fe, where he finds a prickly artist who insists she has no aspirations to be an amateur detective. However, she does provide an artist's viewpoint of the desert and the death scene. While the sheriff questions why a man dressed as a priest has a gun in his luggage, Georgia worries because the victim had a map with her house marked with an X. The death is the first in a string of tragedies that throw Ryan and Georgia together. Both Ryan and Georgia contact authorities when they suspect German spies and espionage in this pre-World War II mystery. VERDICT The intricately plotted mystery puts a new spin on several historical figures, including O'Keeffe and the Lindberghs, who are guests at the ranch. Lasky ("Calista Jacobs" mysteries) provides vivid descriptions through O'Keeffe's eyes that bring the setting and timeframe to life.--Lesa Holstine

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