Whistling Artist — Dean L. Hovey

After Deborah Evenson's death, her paintings are gathered for a retrospective showing at a Duluth art museum. During the opening night gala, the museum discovers that two of the paintings, previously displayed separately, were created as a diptych/mural. Close inspection of the complicated pieces reveals hidden images hinting at the rocky relationship between Evenson and her rich benefactor.

Peter Rogers, the Whistling Pines Recreation Director, is dragged into a controversy when a local art studio hosts a drawing class for a group of his residents. Moving from drawings of fruit, the class shifts to nudes, a decision that brings a group of protesters to the studio. The slightly inebriated art instructor confronts the religious protesters, spritzing them with booze.

To avoid the unfolding protest, Peter takes the art class to the Duluth art museum where they discover another hidden image in Evenson's mural. Does this image explain the disappearance of an art professor who'd been posing for Evenson, or is it just a feature in the abstract painting?

Reviews

"I know the stories in this book will give me at least one laugh a page." D.J.W.

"A great read that's easy to pick up and hard to put down." A.P.