Hello, lovelies! It gives me great pleasure today to host Claudia
Riess and her new book, “False Light: An Art History Mystery”! For other stops on her Goddess Fish
Promotions Book Tour, please click on the banner above or any of the images in
this post.
Be sure to make it to the
end of this post to enter to win a $50 Amazon or Barnes and Noble Gift Card!!! Also, come back daily to interact with Claudia
and to increase your chances of winning!
This eBook is on SALE
during the book tour for ONLY $0.99!!!
See below for more details.
False Light: An Art History Mystery
by Claudia Riess
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GENRE: Mystery
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BLURB:
Academic
sleuths Erika Shawn, art magazine editor, and Harrison Wheatley, a more
seasoned art history professor, set out to tackle a brain teaser. This time the couple—married since their
encounter in Stolen Light, first in the series—attempt to crack the long
un-deciphered code of art forger Eric Hebborn (1934-1996), which promises to
reveal the whereabouts of a number of his brilliant Old Master
counterfeits. (Hebborn, in real life,
was a mischievous sort, who had a fascination with letters and a love-hate
relationship with art authenticators. I
felt compelled to devise a puzzler on his behalf!) After publication of his memoir, Drawn to
Trouble, published in 1991, he encrypts two copies with clues to the treasure
hunt. On each of the title pages, he
pens a tantalizing explanatory letter.
One copy he sends to an art expert; the second, he releases into general
circulation. The catch: both books are
needed to decipher the code.
When
the books are at last united 25 years later, Erik and Harrison are enlisted to
help unearth their hidden messages. But
when several research aides are brutally murdered, the academic challenge leads
to far darker mysteries in the clandestine world of art crime. As the couple navigate this sinister world,
both their courage under fire and the stability of their relationship are
tested.
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EXCERPT TWO:
Erika
would not permit herself to sleep. She gave in to her selfish body only to
allow it to lean its skull and spine against the wall as she went over, again
and again, the day’s nightmare. Reliving it kept the memory raw; healing,
impossible.
There
was a light tapping on the door. She didn’t know how long she had been sitting
there, only that the scant light in the room had dimmed. There was another tap.
“Miss
Erika? May I come in?”
It
was Grace. Erika had never heard the woman’s supplicating tone of voice, but
who else could it be? “Grace?”
“Yes,
Miss. Please, may I?”
A
kind of dull curiosity moved her to answer, “Come in.”
Grace
opened the door and entered the room. She was holding a tray, bracing one side
of it with her forearm. She turned the knob with her free hand and shut the
door, then better secured the tray. “I’ve brought you some cream of tomato soup
and a muffin. You need some nourishment. Would you turn on the light? You
wouldn’t want this old lady to trip, would you?”
Grace’s
gentle prodding was so uncharacteristic that it caused Erika to rise to her
feet and obey, as if to the command of a hypnotist. She clicked on the wall
light and took the tray from Grace.
“Where
should I put it?”
Grace
scurried to the vanity table and pushed aside Erika’s pads and pens. “Right
here is good.”
Erika
did as she was told. Grace pulled out the chair from the vanity and reached up
to touch Erika’s shoulder. “Now sit and have some soup.” She smoothed her
scalloped white apron overlaying her starched black dress and stood there,
waiting.
“I’m
not hungry, Grace.”
“You
don’t want to be hungry, but you are,” Grace said, without budging.
There
seemed to be no choice but to heed Grace’s first prompt. Erika sat down. She
had no intention of lifting the spoon provided. “Thank you.” She waited for
Grace to exit the room.
Grace
wasn’t going anywhere. She strode to the desk and dragged the desk chair to the
vanity, placing it directly alongside Erika’s chair. She sat down. “You must
take care of yourself—for yourself as well as your husband,” she said. “He
loves you so. I have never seen him so distraught.”
“Harrison
will be fine,” Erika said, staring straight ahead.
Grace
shook her head. “Not if you aren’t.” She took Erika’s hand in her own. “I
haven’t been very cordial to you. I apologize.”
“Apology
accepted,” Erika said, feeling nothing.
“I
have no children,” Grace said. “I worked for Harrison’s grandparents for fifty
years. I’ve known Harrison all his life, and he is family to me; my only
family. He is a dear man, but terribly naïve. It broke my heart to see his
first wife take advantage of him. She nearly destroyed him. I was afraid you
might do the same.”
“I
won’t.” She withdrew her hand from Grace’s.
“I
know you won’t. I see how you are with him. I see how you look at him.
My
prejudice made me blind to this, but now I see.”
Erika
turned to Grace. “I’m empty, Grace. Do you see that?” She returned her focus to
the wall.
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BOOK TRAILER:
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GUEST POST:
Exploring
the conflict of self-determination and the yielding of self has always been of
great interest to me. Staunch
independence vis-à-vis romantic love, which is submissive either by nature or
indoctrination, seems to be a philosophical and evolutionary subject to grapple
with. I deal with the issue head-on by
putting characters in situations where they’re struggling to define themselves
at the nexus of this conflict. For a
chronically hopeless romantic myself, the experience can prove to be both daunting
and self-enlightening.
For
starters, I find it helps to differentiate between the characterizations of
“tough” and “strong.” Granted, both
words can be nuanced to the point of no return, so I like to keep it simple. I
think of “tough,” in the context of behavior, as tough as nails, tough as
leather, impervious, non-resilient, averse to change. Of course, toughness can on occasion be a
handy asset. A warrior is tough; she cannot be dissuaded from her mission. This
is a good thing, especially when the merest distraction can bring destruction
to the individual or planet she is committed to save. However, when it comes to tenaciously
adhering to questionable or self-defeating views or behaviors, not so good. The latter can be a more complex situation
for an author and her characters to deal with, so I find it’s helpful to stick
to the simple connation of “tough.” On
the other hand, I think of a “strong” character as resilient without being
gelatinous, vulnerable without being a pushover.
Sometimes
tough passes for strong. Case in point:
Erika Shawn, co-protagonist in my art history mystery series. She’s ever-evolving; tested from forces
within and without. She starts out in
the first book, Stolen Light, firmly entrenched in the idea that by
nature, men’s protestations of loyalty cannot be trusted. Her father, with whom
she’d had what she thought was an unassailable relationship, had walked out on
her and her mother at a critical point in their lives, just when he was needed
most. Subsequent relationships only
served to confirm her view. She’s
steeled herself, does not allow the notion of love to hamper her pragmatic sex
life. She’s smart, sassy, can out-repartee
anyone up for the challenge. She appears
to be strong, but is she? By being
risk-averse, her emotional life remains stunted; in permanent quarantine. Only when Harrison Wheatley comes into the
picture is her stultifying creed tested.
The first hint of it comes early on in the book, when they’re driving
out to eastern Long Island, en route to their first sleuthing venture:
“Their
splayed hands were inches apart on the leather seat. It would have been so
easy, so sweet, to slide her hand into contact with his. Yet under these
circumstances, with her gauzy feeling threatening to overcome her good sense,
no. There would be no romance: Sleeping Beauty segueing from coma to dream
world, never truly waking up. She knew
from experience that the real ending of the story was disappointment, energy
wasted.”
Letting
her guard down and opening herself to a fuller life, albeit with its inherent
risks, would be difficult for Erika, and maybe never totally realized. In Stolen Light, as well as in the
books to follow—False Light and Knight Light (in the works)—she
faces other dangers, circumstantial as well as internal. She struggles with the emotional trauma of a
miscarriage and the repercussions to her sense of self-worth. She resists Harrison’s over-protectiveness. Her courage is tested when she’s thrown into
life-threatening situations. She grows; becomes more resilient. She can take risks without the fear of
forfeiting self-governance. In the end,
when it comes to matters of the heart, she is able to bridge the gap—not
without an occasional relapse—between staunch independence and romantic love.
A tough character devoid of
human frailty is more of an emblem than a person a reader can relate to. When invested in characters, I try to go with
the flow, not analyze them, at least not while they’re in transit. After a scene or a chapter, maybe, but not
when my neck’s pulsing with theirs. It may be helpful to make use of words like
“tough” and “strong,” but to solidify guidelines into hard and fast rules
would, like overbearing parents, hinder the growth of characters out on their own
for the first time. By the same token, I
try not to over-analyze the likes or expectations of the reader. If I can empathize with the characters, I
figure there’s a good chance the reader will.
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Claudia will be awarding a $50 Amazon or B/N GC
to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour.
AUTHOR BIO:
Claudia Riess, a Vassar graduate, has
worked in the editorial departments of The New Yorker and Holt, Rinehart, and
Winston and has edited several art history monographs.
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CONNECT WITH
CLAUDIA:
Website:
Facebook:
Twitter:
Pinterest:
Instagram:
YouTube:
Goodreads Author Page:
Goodreads Book Page:
Amazon Author Page:
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AMAZON BOOK BUY
LINKS & BOOK SALE INFO:
**False Light is available on SALE on eBook for ONLY
$0.99!!!**
Amazon Kindle eBook:
Amazon Paperback:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GIVEAWAY INFO:
**This post contains affiliate links and if clicked and a
purchase is made, I may receive a small commission to help support this
blog. This does not cost you anything,
it just helps pay for all those awesome giveaways on here.**
This contest is sponsored
by a third party. Fabulous and Brunette is a registered host of Goddess Fish
Promotions. Prizes are given away by the
sponsors and not Fabulous and Brunette. The featured author and Goddess Fish
Promotions are solely responsible for the giveaway prize.
Claudia ~ Good morning! Welcome to FAB! It is so great to have you both here! Congrats on your new book and good luck on the book tour! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Ally! Beautiful site!
DeleteThanks for hosting!
ReplyDeleteI like the excerpt, sounds good.
ReplyDeleteThanks again, Rita!
DeleteThanks for sharing with us!
ReplyDeleteMy pleasure! Hope you enjoyed post.
DeleteEnjoyed reading your guest post today
ReplyDeleteThanks again, Victoria!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much!
ReplyDeleteThanks for featuring my book!
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing an excerpt, this sounds great
ReplyDeleteThanks for your interest!
DeleteGorgeous cover! Sounds like a must read. Thank you for hosting.
ReplyDeleteThanks again for your interest, Caryl!
ReplyDelete