Painted Truth — Lise McClendon

THE ART OF ILLUSION

Art expert/gallery owner Alix Thorssen is called on to appraise the charred remains of a friend's local gallery...a tragedy doubled when the body of artist Ray Thornton is found among the debris.

The death is ruled a suicide, the fire, arson. Case closed. But not for Alix, who believes the body in the fire was not Thornton.

As her investigation forces her to confront her own foibles and contradictions as an art lover, another murder puts her in the hot seat as prime suspect. She must race to find a killer who knows that while life may imitate art--death makes it all the more profitable....