Blue Smoke and Murder (Hardcover)

by Elizabeth Lowell (Author)
Key Phrases: ski mask, golden fleece, blue smoke and murder, Thomas Dunstan, Garland Frost, Las Vegas (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist
A picture is worth a thousand words—and millions of dollars—in Lowell’s new romantic thriller. In the novel’s early pages, Arizona river-rafting guide Jill Breck saves the life of Lane Faroe, whose father runs St. Kilda Consulting, a powerful private security firm. Jill’s heart-stopping heroics earn the eternal gratitude of the elder Faroe, who promises her the services of his company should she ever get in a jam. So when her aunt perishes in a suspicious fire, Jill calls St. Kilda right away. (She suspects the blaze is connected to paintings kept hidden by her late eccentric mother, the sometime lover of legendary western landscape painter Thomas Dunstan.) Protection arrives in the form of sexy St. Kilda operative Zach Balfour, who teams with Jill to determine the provenance of the paintings. Though her plot is too contrived, Lowell (The Wrong Hostage, 2006) provides intriguing insight into the lucrative and fiercely competitive world of art collecting, where strokes of the brush can lead to brushes with death. --Allison Block

Product Description

Jill Breck was just doing her job as a river guide when she saved the life of Lane Faroe, son of two of St. Kilda Consulting's premier operators. But when a string of ominous events—including a mysterious fire that kills her great-aunt and a furor in the Western art world raised by a dozen Breck family paintings—culminates in a threat to her life, Jill reluctantly calls in a favor.

Zach Balfour works part-time as a consultant for St. Kilda. His expertise is gathering and analyzing information from unlikely and often dangerous sources. Though he's got the skills to be a highly effective bodyguard, being a bullet catcher isn't his preferred way to spend time.

Protecting Jill will take him into familiar territory—among a strange, savagely competitive bunch of collectors who'll do anything to stay at the top. But Jill is in deeper waters than she's ever known; as she soon discovers, the perils of running wild rivers are tame compared with the hidden dangers in the high-stakes game of art collecting.

From the cozy rooms of the Breck homestead cabin to the cold multimillion-dollar galleries of the Western art circuit, Zach and Jill must race against time to unmask a ruthless killer hidden in a blue smoke of money, threats, lies, and death. . . .

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 416 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow; First Edition edition (May 27, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060829850
• ISBN-13: 978-0060829858
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (37 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #193,447 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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• This is item 4 in The St. Kilda Consulting Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Characters are great but plot falls flat, June 15, 2008

By	Romantic at Heart - See all my reviews

I am a devoted Elizabeth Lowell fan and own everyone of her books that I can find. I am sorry to say that this book was really hard to finish because the story was not all that interesting.

In her usual voice, Lowell does a fantastic job of describing her main characters. Jill and Zach are an interesting couple who have a palpable attraction for each other. Lowell has shows you how they meet and gives you circumstances that unite the couple for a good cause (i.e., staying alive long enough to unravel the mystery of Jill's art inheritance).

I lost interest in this book about 50% of the way into it. At that point, the story didn't really leave any mysteries for the reader as I had already figured out the rest of the book. Instead, I felt like I was waiting for Lowell to get on with it so I could go to my next book.

This book is probably the least satisfying read out of all her books. Since Lowell doesn't publish very often, I was pretty disappointed in how uninterestingly this book was written.

For other Lowell readers, I would recommend checking this book out at your local library and not spending money on it until it comes out in paperback.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Same Story......, August 5, 2008

By	K. Provencher "Kate" (NJ) - See all my reviews

While "Blue Smoke and Murder" is an interesting story it is a tale that Lowell has already told readers. The art theme is very interesting but Lowell needs to learn to use it differently regarding the overall plot. The story was so formulaic that I could predict the "twists" within the first 3-5 chapters, for me that does not make an interesting book. I also felt that some of the information about the art world was overdone and was reminiscent of the beginning textbooks I used in my one and only art history course in college. Despite the negatives of the book I did give it three stars because it was a fast paced moving story and many elements are interesting. I don't recommend buying it in hardback, either borrow it from the library or buy it in paperback.

24 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Suspence at it's finest., May 27, 2008

By	Dianne S. Tetro "at www.booksandchat.com" (Shelton, CT) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Blue Smoke and Murder - by Elizabeth Lowell (on sale May 27th in hardcover)




Meet Jillian "Jill" Breck. A white-water river guide, ex-Fundamentalist Mormon, artist, new owner to 13 un-signed paintings by a famous Western genre artist, and the woman who once saved the life of the son of two of St Kilda Consulting's premier operators. They now owe her...and it's time for Jill to collect. You see, Jill just had her vehicle totally vandalized, one of the questionable paintings shredded and a death threat issued.

Meet Zach Balfour a part-time consultant for St. Kilda and ready to finish a long awaited vacation. With his expertise in gathering information and analyzing it, he isn't so happy to learn that he is needed to cut short his plans to "baby-sit" Jill. Until he meets her and realizes that this in NOT just another babysitting job. Jill is an earthy, smart, woman who is used to looking out for herself. She can guide people through the tumbling rapids of the Colorado river and discuss Zach's favorite topic. But now people are setting fires and shooting at her.

This fast paced, action driven, very well researched, romantic suspense/ thriller takes us deep into the world of very high priced Western genre art and the people who perpetuate millions of dollars in art fraud each year. While some may say that Ms Lowell over-emphasizes the technical part of painting, collecting art, and the manner in which one may perpetuate a fraud...I found it to be highly interesting; both in learning about the Western genre Masters, of painting and the technical side of collecting. Ms Lowell does a very fine job combining these issues with a wonderfully fast paced cat and mouse game with Jill's life at stake and a blossoming romance between Jill and Zach that never seems to stretch credibility. Jill and Zach, along with the secondary and tertiary characters are very well drawn, well fleshed and believable. The situations that Ms Lowell puts Zach and Jill in, never make me need to fight for the suspension of disbelief.

I loved this book right from the very first chapter until the nail biting conclusion, and I have already ordered the other 2 books in the St Kilda's series. I certainly hope we hear more about these men and women of St. Kilda's.