Customer Reviews

Art's Blood

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

"Art's Blood" is the second book in Vicki Lane's Elizabeth Goodweather series and every bit as satisfying as the first.

As the characters grow and develop, the reader feels one's own roots begin to sink into the fertile mountain soil.

When Elizabeth agrees to set up a quilt show at the library, she gets to meet Phil Hawkins' Aunt Omie and finds a beautiful quilt that ties in to the stories of several generations.

The plots are as intricately woven as a fine piece of embroidery and as complex and dazzling in their entirety as a hand-stitched Lone Star quilt.

When I finished this book, I was as sated as Elizabeth after dinner at Aunt Omie's and I look forward to her third book in the series as eagerly as an invitation to visit with an old friend. With the myriad of people living in North Carolina and the ever-changing scenery of the Applachians, there is definitely enough material to create many more in what will hopefully be a long-lived series. And Vicki Lane is exactly the right seamstress to keep on creating these works of art! Thank you, Vicki, for sharing your talent with the rest of us!

From the first page to the last, Vicki Lane has done it again. Many twists and turns that keep you wondering who/what/where/why until the last few pages of the book. It's an amazing read ... one of those that you keep reading to find out what happened, yet when you're done it's sad because all her wonderful characters/settings are gone til her next book. She is truly a gifted writer that will be around a long, long time.

Vicki Lane's novel 'Art's Blood' is another great installment in a series that mixes generations' stories and history. The intelligent Elizabeth Goodweather solves another mystery, and still has plenty of time to tend to her garden. When she's suddenly entangled in the background of a mixed up young girl, two male artists and an elderly woman (who may not be as harmless as she appears), Elizabeth lifts the shadows on buried secrets, sometimes by seeking and sometimes by accident. Readers familiar with the atmosphere of Asheville, N.C., especially the downtown area, are in for a special treat. Lane has highlighted much of the artistic culture and unique individuals of the area in this wonderful story. (Vicki Lane will be in Burnsville, N.C. for the 2007 Literary Festival, Sept 2007!).

Chrissy K. McVay
Author of 'Souls of the North Wind'

Characters have depth and ring true one becomes immersed in their lives as much as in the mystery.

Great book.

The book arrived quickly, packed well and
in the best condition. I will use this
seller again.

Vicki Lane's ART'S BLOOD is the second in her Appalachian series featuring Elizabeth Goodweather as a protagonist.
Elizabeth is a "Florida gal" and will remain so to her neighbors because 21 years of residence does not make you a local. Elizabeth learns a deep lesson about objectivity and her own emotions as she stumbles her way to discover the perpetrator of the brutal murder of Boz, a member of the art group The 3.
She is aided by a friend of her deceased husband, Philip Hawkins. Philip ia an ex-cop who has a deep interest in Elizabeth's welfare.
Is Kyra Peterson insane, the victim of horrible circumstances, or an innocent by stander as an over protective family use their wealth and power to control her life?
Vicki Lane has the finest insight into the character and traditions of our mountain culture and through her narrative and dialogue they speak to the reader.
Nash Black, author of Indie finalists WRITING AS A SMALL BUSINESS and HAINTS.

I am so glad I liked this book better than the first. I really like the characters and I love the setting, so I was hoping Ms. Lane's second book would not have that second book slump that happens to some authors. Well, I thought the mystery was great. I thought I had the mystery figured out, more than once, and more than once I was wrong! I also loved Ms. Lane's descriptions of the beautiful North Carolina Mountains, and her descriptions of her flowers, and farming. Just an overall fun read. I look forward to her next one.

Vicki Lane's books are great-hard to put down once you start. She is skillful in weaving in local history, language, and customs as part of the narrative. And the outcomes are not to be guessed until the very last pages.

i have read all of vicki lanes books, i enjoy her writing very much and am waiting impatiently for the next one.

I've now read two of Vicki Lane's books (Boy, I wish I could get that time back!) and they were both equally dismal.

Small characters, unbelievable dialogue and ridiculous situations. But Art's Blood was, by far, the worst of the two. It involves several murders, a quilt exhibition, and two old sisters. The murders are unbelievable, the quilt exhibition has absolutely nothing to do with the main story, but neither does the detailed side story of the two old sisters. I just don't understand why an author would write an involved side story that has no connection to the main one??

The most unbelievable part for me though was, when the main character (Elizabeth somebody-or-other, can't even remember her name she's so unmemorable), is locked in a building and then the room she's in is set fire to. She manages to get out of the building by climbing down a makeshift rope but when she gets to her car it won't start. So what does she do? Gets a flashlight and goes BACK into the building to look for a pay phone. In real life, the only person that would do that would be somebody with an IQ of 50.

Awful, awful book. And thank heavens I haven't bought any more of Vicki Lane's books, so I won't have to lose any more time reading them. Yuk!