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Art historian and former cop Kate McKinnon is happy with her new life and her new look. She’s acquired a live-in young woman with a baby, she’s cut her hair and changed her wardrobe, and she’s working on a book about the abstract painters of the 1940s and 1950s. She doesn’t miss the trappings of the money she had when her husband was alive; she does miss her husband and their life together. Her world has changed, but she’s doing OK. This all changes when someone starts slashing paintings. One of the first to go under the knife is one that she and her husband donated to a new museum. Whoever is doing this is leaving clues: paintings that seem to be a hodge-podge of the painting slashed and the next one on the list. As more paintings are ruined, the collage gets more complicated. The case gets more complicated, too, because people start getting killed along with their paintings. As Kate gets drawn into the case, she also gets drawn out of her past. Old friends express an interest in her, which goes beyond friendship, and she is attracted to one of the cops. What does this say about her feelings for her dead husband? Kate is torn. She is reluctant to even work on the case because of fallout from previous cases, the most damaging being the death of her husband. She wants to get on with her life, but feels an obligation to the case because of the paintings and the people she knows. Santlofer is himself a respected artist with many awards; his work appears in a broad range of collections across the country. One of the more intriguing and enjoyable aspects of THE KILLING ART is the artwork that appears throughout the book. Santlofer reproduces the paintings that serve as clues. I found this particularly helpful because I know very little about the artists of the period. Sure, I recognize some of the names; Santlofer, with this device, helps match up styles to names. I would assume, if one were more conversant with the period, that these clues would have much more meaning for the reader and wouldn’t require the explications given by Kate and the other artists. Kate is an interesting woman, with lots of layers. She’s a woman I’d like to know, although our circles would not be likely to overlap. She is very comfortable in several worlds, which enhances her ability to make connections across these worlds. THE KILLING ART is a well-plotted novel of suspense, with enough action to keep non-artsy people from nodding off. I’m tempted to track down Santlofer’s previous works in the series.
Reviewed by P.J. Coldren, February 2007
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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