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An Art Center Mystery (3 book series) Kindle Edition
An Art Center Mystery (3 book series)
Kindle Edition
by Susan Van Kirk (Author)
From Book 1: Who knew going home could be deadly?

I will show them success. Artist Jill Madison repeats this mantra when she returns to her small hometown to restart her life. Hired to manage a new community art center, she vows to make it successful so the people of her town will have what she did not have—an education in the arts. She no sooner accepts the job than a burglar makes off with an expensive sculpture and an uninvited corpse is discovered in the basement. Even worse, the body belongs to someone Jill knew…well. Investigating what happened places Jill right in the path of a murderer.

How will she keep her job, run her first big event, and escape a killer who plans to paint her out of the picture permanently?
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Sold by: Amazon.com Services LLC

Books in this series (3 books)

Death in a Pale Hue: An Art Center Mystery
1

Death in a Pale Hue: An Art Center Mystery
by Susan Van Kirk (Author)
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 49 4.3 on Goodreads 66 ratings
Who knew going home could be deadly?

I will show them success. Artist Jill Madison repeats this mantra when she returns to her small hometown to restart her life. Hired to manage a new community art center, she vows to make it successful so the people of her town will have what she did not have—an education in the arts. She no sooner accepts the job than a burglar makes off with an expensive sculpture and an uninvited corpse is discovered in the basement. Even worse, the body belongs to someone Jill knew…well. Investigating what happened places Jill right in the path of a murderer.

How will she keep her job, run her first big event, and escape a killer who plans to paint her out of the picture permanently?

See product details for:

Kindle Price
$6.49

By placing your order, you're purchasing a license to the content and you agree to the Kindle Store Terms of Use.

Sold by: Amazon.com Services LLC

Death in a Bygone Hue: An Art Center Mystery
2

Death in a Bygone Hue: An Art Center Mystery
by Susan Van Kirk (Author)
4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 35 4.3 on Goodreads 39 ratings
When Jill Madison returns to her hometown to become executive director of a new art center, she never would have dreamed unexpected secrets from the past would put her life in danger. When her parents’ old friend, and Jill’s mentor, Judge Ron Spivey, is murdered, he leaves behind more than a few secrets. His baffling will makes Jill a rich woman, if she can survive the six-month probate period.

She finds a target on her back when the judge’s estranged children return and form an unholy alliance with a local muckraking journalist who specializes in making up news. According to the judge’s will, if Jill dies, the family inherits.

Jill and her best friend launch their own investigation, determined to find the judge’s killer. In the meantime, Jill must run her first national juried exhibit, launch a new seniors’ group, and move the weavers’ guild into the art center. Her arch nemesis and art center board president, Ivan Truelove III, watches her every move, determined to remove her if she makes a mistake. And, in between finding dead bodies, Jill may also discover a bit of romance with a newly arrived doctor in town, if she can live to enjoy it.

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Kindle Price
$6.39

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Death in a Ghostly Hue: An Art Center Mystery
3

Death in a Ghostly Hue: An Art Center Mystery
by Susan Van Kirk (Author)
4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 16
***Anthony Award Nominee for Best Paranormal Novel 2025***

The past never leaves us…

Jill Madison and her brothers have never forgiven Quinn Parsons for driving drunk and killing their parents. How could they? When Parsons returns to Apple Grove from his six years in prison, he’s looking for redemption. But his thoughtless actions, so long ago, hurt more residents than the Madisons, and murderous motives abound when it comes to Quinn Parsons. His lifeless body is soon found at the bottom of a staircase. And who threatened him in front of a large cross-section of the town? Jill’s brother, Andy Madison.

When Andy is arrested and charged with murder, Jill and her bestie, Angie Emerson, seek to prove his innocence without forgetting that if Andy is not the killer, someone else is—someone dangerous who may be watching.

Meanwhile, the Old Friends senior group at Jill’s art center is rehearsing a radio-play of Oscar Wilde’s “The Canterville Ghost,” a ghostly story of forgiveness. Strange happenings convince Jill there’s a real ghost at the art center. To prove to herself she’s not going crazy, she begins to investigate the center’s dark history.

She discovers the past is never far away.

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Kindle Price
$6.29

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    About the author

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    Susan Van Kirk

    Susan Van Kirk

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    Susan Van Kirk taught thirty-four years at Monmouth High School (1968-2002) and another ten years at Monmouth College (2001-2011).

    Her first book was a creative nonfiction memoir with fifteen stories about her teaching life called "The Education of a Teacher (Including Dirty Books and Pointed Looks)." A new edition is in the works for 2026.

    Her mysteries began with her Endurance series, a cozy series about the small, Midwest town of Endurance and Grace Kimball, retired school teacher. This series includes "Three May Keep a Secret," "Marry in Haste," The Locket: From the Casebook of TJ Sweeney," "Death Takes No Bribes," and "The Witch's Child." The latest book in the series, "Fabric of Lies," will be out December 2025.The entire series has been republished by Harlequin Worldwide Mystery. "A Death at Tippitt Pond" is a standalone mystery. Van Kirk's Art Center Mysteries consist of "Death in a Pale Hue," [2022] from Level Best Books, "Death in a Bygone Hue," [June 2023] and "Death in a Ghostly Hue," [June 2024].

    Van Kirk is a member of Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, and is the past president of the Guppy Chapter, an online chapter of Sisters in Crime.

    You can follow her on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest.