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"TJ is taking classes at The League, an open-enrollment art school in Manhattan to become an artist. But when a deadly crime strikes The League's figure drawing class, and famous artist Thomas Benton's corpse is discovered on the floor. But Benton has a long history of angering the art world and his involvement at the school hasn't always led to happy students and faculty... It's soon up to TJ, son of Detective Juanita Diaz and Captain Brian Fitzgerald of the NYPD, to investigate. And as the number of Benton's enemies mount, TJ realizes he's the only one that can save the painter's legacy and put the guilty away for good"--
About the author
Helen A. Harrison, a former art reviewer and feature writer for The New York Times and visual arts commentator for National Public Radio, is the director of the Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center in East Hampton, New York, and an authority on 20th century American art. A native of New York City with a bachelor's degree in studio art from Adelphi University, she also attended the Art Students League, the Brooklyn Museum Art School and Hornsey College of Art in London before receiving a master's degree in art history from Case Western Reserve University. Among her many publications are exhibition catalogs, essays, book chapters, reviews and articles, and several non-fiction books, including Hamptons Bohemia: Two Centuries of Artists and Writers on the Beach, co-authored with Constance Ayers Denne, and monographs on Larry Rivers and Jackson Pollock. She and her husband, the artist Roy Nicholson, live in Sag Harbor, New York. www.helenharrison.net.
Summary
"A first-rate whodunnit set in the 1960s New York art world, a time and place Helen Harrison has recreated with a page-turning mix of history, gossip, and fun!"—Bob Colacello, author of Holy Terror: Andy Warhol Close Up
One artist. One student. One deadly mystery.
When Regionalist painter Thomas Hart Benton's corpse is discovered behind the easels of Manhattan's famed art school, whispers in the art community say he had it coming. As Benton's list of enemies lengthens to include the school's instructors, Vietnam War protesters, and members of Andy Warhol's entourage, one art student is ultimately painted as the murderer. The only problem: the suspect has vanished.
Why would an art student murder Benton? And if he were innocent, why would he run?
When TJ Fitzgerald, son of Detective Juanita Diaz and Captain Brian Fitzgerald of the NYPD, discovers his classmate is the prime suspect, he uses his own investigative skills to try and clear his name. But as TJ and his girlfriend work to unravel the clues to the art mystery, he begins to wonder if the police got it wrong and one secret may be the key to it all...
Helen Harrison's An Artful Corpse is a clever mystery sure to please art enthusiasts and armchair detectives alike.
