Former art forger Annie Kincaid has been operating a legitimate decorative painting business for quite a while, but memories are long in the art world. Now, with the blessing of the FBI Art Squad, Annie's using her underworld connections to boost her new art investigation business, where she's partnered with none other than ex-art thief/ love interest Michael X. Johnson. At first it's strictly business, but when she stumbles across a body in an exclusive Nob Hill men's club, and an insurance adjuster asks and an insurance adjuster asks her to find a stolen (and forged) erotic painting, and then her Uncle Anton is attacked, Annie's on the trail of more than just art. This time, she's looking for justice. Annie is a strong woman protagonist. She has reinvented herself from a checkered past as an art forger to a legitimate businesswoman/artist. She moves easily between high and low social circles. as she makes the rounds of San Francisco and Bay Area locales, including tunnels beneath the pavements of Nob Hill and Chinatown; the homes and hideouts-even a downtown sex club-of the rich and famous; and the artists' studios South of Market. The Art Lover's series has an entertaining light touch, especially when either of Annie Kincaid's two romantic interests appear. But Arsenic and Old Paint also deals with serious social issues- some history of slave trading in Chinatown, and its connection with San Francisco powers-that-were; and the male exploitation of the female and immigrant powerless, an issue that continues to this day.
Arsenic and Old Paint (Art Lover's Mysteries)
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"Wonderful characters, attention to detail, and insightful views of San Francisco's underbelly are just a few of the things that make Lind one of my favorite authors. . . Fast-paced, smart as hell, and laugh-out-loud funny.” -- Kate Carlisle, Bibliophile Mystery series
"Lind's characters-some guilty, some sort of innocent-come alive with snappy dialogue and adventures you won't want to miss.” -- Margaret Grace, Miniature Mystery series
"Lind's characters-some guilty, some sort of innocent-come alive with snappy dialogue and adventures you won't want to miss.” -- Margaret Grace, Miniature Mystery series
About the Author
Hailey Lind is the pseudonym of two sisters, one an artist in Oakland, California, the other a historian in Norfolk, Virginia. The former, Julie Goodson-Lawes, painted the cover image for the book and runs her own faux-finishing and design business in San Francisco. Carolyn J. Laws is associate professor of history at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, VA.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Annie Kincaid is back!,
By Marlyn (Southern California) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Arsenic and Old Paint: The Art Lover's Mystery Series (Art Lover's Mysteries) (Paperback)
Arsenic and Old Paint: The Art Lover's Mystery Series (Art Lover's Mysteries)
Last seen in 2007's Brush with Death, Annie runs the home decorating business she calls True/Faux Studios, as well as an art investigation business partnered with ex?-art-thief Michael X. Johnson. When she stumbles across a dead body while doing a renovation in the Fleming Mansion, home of an exclusive men's club in San Francisco's Nob Hill, just before her Uncle Anton is hospitalized for arsenic poisoning, she thinks the two events might be related. At the same time, a man claiming to be an insurance investigator asks her to find a bronze statue that's been stolen from another exclusive San Francisco men's club. Unfortunately, Michael has been incommunicado for days, and she has no choice but to accept the case in his absence. All the old gang is back: jewelry-maker Samantha Jagger, stained-glass artist Pete Ibrahimbegovics, landlord Frank DeBenton, SFPD detective Annette Crawford, and the aforementioned Michael X. Johnson. In the course of her investigations into the Fleming Union murder(for despite being warned off by the the FU management and the police, Annie is determined to find out who poisoned Anton), she visits several other old Nob Hill mansions, including an S&M club. She discovers that in the early 20th Century there were tunnels under the houses on the Hill, that had been used for various purposes including hiding runaway prostitutes. She also chooses between the two incredibly magnetic men in her life: Frank and Michael, or does she? Complicating the issue are secrets that she learns about both of them. Absorbing, fun and full of information about art and history, Arsenic and Old Paint was worth the wait!
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Annie Kincaid is Back on the Job,
By Debbie (Kentucky) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Arsenic and Old Paint: The Art Lover's Mystery Series (Art Lover's Mysteries) (Paperback)
I was delighted with the new Hailey Lind novel, Arsenic and Old Paint. It's been too long since the last adventure of Annie Kincaid, faux painter, former art forger, occasional crime solver. Annie's hired to paint a room in San Francisco's exclusive men's club the Fleming Union. She's peeling off the wall paper that's she's to recreate in paint, hears a scream, and finds a body in a bathtub posed like David's Death of Marat. When her "uncle" Anton is hospitalized with arsenic poisoning, Annie tries to get the police to focus on the possibility that the poison came from the green pigment in the old wallpaper, and might be the cause of death in the posed corpse as well.
Her investigations take her and her pals to sex clubs and into tunnels under the city. "It's complicated" doesn't even begin to explain the situation with her business partner the allegedly reformed art thief Michael, and her landlord the security expetrt Frank. It's a great read.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
An Art Lover's Treat,
By
This review is from: Arsenic and Old Paint: The Art Lover's Mystery Series (Art Lover's Mysteries) (Paperback)
If you like art history, San Francisco, and a mystery with diverse characters, humor and a little sexual tension, you can't go wrong with Hailey Lind's books. It's been three years since the last book in the Art Lover's mystery series, but Lind is at the top of her game with Arsenic and Old Paint.
Even when artist and faux finisher Annie Kincaid thinks she's taken a routine job, things can go bad quickly. Hired to use paint to recreate the appearance of a Victorian wallpaper that had been ruined, Annie and her team hear a woman's scream, and find an unusual murder scene. There's a man in a bathtub, with a sword in his body, and a woman in a French maid's outfit standing over him. The murder scene reminded Annie of David's painting, Death of Marat. But, that murder is just one of the curious activities at the exclusive Fleming-Union men's club on Nob Hill. Once she's kicked out of the club, and told her services are no longer needed, Annie will do anything to get back in and investigate, even crawl through tunnels. How does Annie Kincaid get into these messes? Before she knows it, her straight-arrow landlord, Frank DeBenton, asks her to look for a bronze sculpture that disappeared. Her business partner, "reformed" art thief, Michael X. Johnson, gone for a few weeks, appears and disappears at the most inopportune moments. And, in a family of forgers, it appears that her beloved "Uncle" Anton might have been involved in the forgery of a Gauguin that has disappeared. Forgeries, stolen art work, and the reappearance of thieves and forgers in her life. As Annie says, "When there are a lot of coincidences in my life things tend to go bad, fast." Even Annie's love life is a mess. She's attracted to both bad boy Michael and straight-laced Frank, who might have a mysterious past himself. The only solution is to turn to chocolate, lots and lots of chocolate. And, a complicated investigation doesn't hurt. Although Annie continuously tells Michael they're not investigators, she continues to delve into the disappearance of art work, and the story of tunnels under Chinatown and Nob Hill. Hailey Lind successfully intertwines the mystery and history with Annie's amusing life. Annie's friends are a remarkable, unusual group of people, and some of the pleasure in reading these books is meeting up with Annie, her family and friends again. Arsenic and Old Paint is the best book of the series, so far, but, if you haven't read any of them, I recommend you go back and start from the beginning. It's worth reading about Annie and her unusual group of acquaintances. Nothing is any better than a good mystery with a strong group of characters. Arsenic and Old Paint, and Hailey Lind's other mysteries, offer a wealth of unusual characters, along with a fascinating look into mysteries in the art world.
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