Will Connor returns to his hometown, a village north of Boston, to care for his injured mother. He’s kept his distance from the town since high school, but once home he finds himself reexamining a horrific incident that took place during one of his mother’s “spirit circles.” His mother had embraced the hippie generation’s fascination with New Age and the arcane, but the unexpected death of a close friend put an end to the meetings of the modern-day coven.
Or did it?
As Will looks deeper into his family’s history he discovers that her practices weren’t so much a passing fad but the latest link in a long tradition of New England witchcraft, which still seems to hold a strange power over the town. Will hopes that unearthing the facts about the death will put his questions to rest, but there are those willing to resort to violence to keep those secrets buried.
'A riveting psychological thriller, a serious dissection of a dysfunctional family and an exploration of the power of art to change lives.' Associated Press
'A fast-paced psychological thriller with a fascinating set of characters. ... A real page-turner.' -B.A. Shapiro, author of The Art Forger
An atmospheric literary mystery about an infamous painting rumored to be cursed and the family torn apart by its disappearance.
There are four cousins in the Morse family: perfect Kenny, the preppy West Coast lawyer; James, the shy but brilliant medical student; his seductive, hard-drinking sister Audrey; and Teresa, youngest and most fragile, haunted by the fear that she has inherited the madness that possessed her father.
Their grandfather summons them to his mansion at Owl's Point. None of them have visited the family estate since they were children, when a prized painting disappeared: a self-portrait by Goya, rumored to cause madness or death upon viewing. Afterward, the family split apart amid the accusations and suspicions that followed its theft.
Any hope that their grandfather planned to make amends evaporates when Teresa arrives to find the old man dead, his horrified gaze pinned upon the spot where the painting once hung. As the family gathers and suspicions mount, Teresa hopes to find the reasons behind her grandfather's death and the painting's loss. But to do so she must uncover ugly family secrets and confront those who would keep them hidden.
A masterful, deftly plotted novel, The Black Painting explores the profound power that art, and the past, hold over our lives.
An enthralling well-written mystery for readers who enjoyed The Keeper of Lost Things and The Improbability of Love.
A dead body. A family torn apart. Someone is lying.
Years ago, a forgotten Goya masterpiece was stolen from Teresa's family home, a crumbling mansion at Owl's Point. Ever since, Teresa has stayed away, terrified of the rumours surrounding the Black Painting and the jealous accusations that tore apart her family.
Now her grandfather has summoned his descendants back to the mansion to discuss his will, and Teresa knows she has no choice except to return. But when she arrives, she finds the door hanging open and her grandfather dead, his eyes open and staring at the empty space where the Goya once hung.
Someone in the family is lying, but will Teresa unravel the mystery of the missing painting before it is too late?
In the tradition of bestselling espionge luminaries Alan Furst and Daniel Silva comes an accomplished first novel of adventure and intrigues set in both Nazi-occupied Greece and modern-day New York City. In a remote Greek village, Captain elias and his guerillas in the resitance are engaged in battle with the Nazis. A church is burned to the ground in an act of betrayal, and several die trying to protect a religious icon hidden there. What happens that days lies shrouded in mystery until, 60 years later, the icon surfaces on the New York market, generating keen and possibly deadly-interest from a variety of suitors, each wanting it for a different reason.
