The Haunted Artist

The death of Sam Mason a young painter shakes a small New England town. Police say suicide. But his sister can't believe he would do such a thing. She enlists the help of Castelli and Associates which specializes in art crime and Julian Peale is on the case. With Sam gone his paintings-seemingly lost hidden or even a mirage-now stir a race to find out what happened if not to cash in on his legacy. Art dealers see Sam as a late great artist in the making. They're all after whatever of Sam's mysterious works they can find. Delving into the artist's past Peale traces the threads of Sam's life across middle America from Pittsburgh and Savannah to St. Louis and Atlanta. As a struggling artist it seems Sam had fallen into bad company beginning with a shady art dealer and then a small-time duo of Albanian crooks. Sam had also been dabbling in the dark arts.Peale's investigation takes him to art schools urban scenes the high-end art market and a migrant community trying to do good-except for a few gone bad. The missing paintings remain a puzzle until the end a time when bigger mysteries-and darker forces-unfold when least expected.