To Kingdom Come: An Art History Mystery by Claudia Riess - Book Tour - Guest Post - Giveaway - Enter Daily!

Hey, lovelies!!  It gives me great pleasure today to host Claudia Riess and her new book, “To Kingdom Come,” here on FAB!!  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 $25 Amazon OR Barnes and Noble Gift Card!!!  Also, come back daily to interact with Claudia and to increase your chances of winning!!

Thanks for stopping by!!  Wishing you all lots of good luck in this fabulous giveaway!!

To Kingdom Come

An Art History Mystery Series

Book 4

by Claudia Riess

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GENRE:   Mystery

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BOOK BLURB:

Amateur sleuths, Erika Shawn-Wheatley, art magazine editor, and Harrison Wheatley, art history professor, attend a Zoom meeting of individuals from around the globe whose common goal is to expedite the return of African art looted during the colonial era.  Olivia Chatham, a math instructor at London University, has just begun speaking about her recent find, a journal penned by her great-granduncle, Andrew Barrett, active member of the Royal Army Medical Service during England’s 1897 “punitive expedition” launched against the Kingdom of Benin.

Olivia is about to disclose what she hopes the sleuthing duo will bring to light, when the proceedings are disrupted by an unusual movement in one of the squares on the grid.  Frozen disbelief erupts into a frenzy of calls for help as the group, including the victim, watch in horror the enactment of a murder videotaped in real time.

It will not be the only murder or act of brutality Erika and Harrison encounter in their two-pronged effort to hunt down the source of violence and unearth a cache of African treasures alluded to in Barrett’s journal.

Much of the action takes place in London, scene of the crimes and quest for redemption.

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EXCERPT THREE:

He wondered now why had it taken such an effort to decide which of his plans to set in motion. Walking off with an artifact or two from Franks House, the British Museum’s storage facility in East London, may have given him his political statement, but at what cost? The place was crawling with workers in lab coats and masks—conservators, project managers, photographers, interns, auditors, volunteers—the lot of them engaged in the end goal of moving 200,000 objects from the museum’s collection of Africa, Oceania, and the Americans to its nearly spanking new World Conservation and Exhibition Centre. True, it would not have been an insurmountable task, entering the quiet road where the quaint redbrick warehouse lay and unobtrusively blending into the workforce, but then what? Would he have been forced to shoot his way out of the place at the risk of being gunned down himself? How sordid and at the same time mundane to mow down an uncalculated number of individuals, only to find himself a mere casualty sprawled among them. Hell no, he was neither a loony terrorist nor a crack- head martyr. The plan in place was the more sensible course, no question about it.

It was restful, hearing below his thoughts the rhythmic phrase of train wheels clacking against the tracks in lulling repetition. His calmness surprised him a little, given what lay ahead. His scenario had been well choreographed, but only on an imagined stage with players moving about under his ironclad direction. In real life, even the most meticulous plan is apt to be disrupted by unforeseen circumstances. He knew that it was exactly 1.6 miles from Effingham Junction Station to the mansion on Ockham Lane in Cobham, Surrey, but was he certain that he would not be accosted by a madman or struck by lightning on his walk to the place?

If he allowed his thoughts to ramble on in this manner, his nerves would start acting up. He must lean into the physical moment and move with it into his destiny. He looked out the window past his reflection and focused on the indifferent stars.

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GUEST POST:

The Craziest Thing I’ve Done in the Name of Research

Well, maybe not the craziest, but surely one of the most embarrassing…

About a year and half ago, I came across an intriguing reference to the Benin Bronzes in a newspaper article.  It sparked an idea for an art history mystery.  First thing I did was order a copy of Stuart Butler’s Benin: The Bradt Travel Guide.  When it arrived from Amazon two days later, I dug right in.  I was reading some fascinating material on Benin’s culture and had just embarked on the section entitled “Practical Information,” when, on page 38, the following highlighted notice hit me like a pie in the face:

 

BENIN AND THOSE BRONZES

I don’t like to be the bearer of bad news, but if your chief reason for

visiting Benin is to see the homeland of the famous Benin Bronzes then you

had better cancel that ticket because you’ve got the wrong country.

I was humiliated, but not defeated.  After all, the notice itself was an indication I was not alone in my ignorance and, as I discovered, like misery, it loves company.  Actually, this flagrant proof of my ignorance had a positive effect on my motivation.  I was more than ever determined to educate myself on the subject, both for the sake of my potential mystery and, I would like to think more so, as a matter of conscience.  I read the reviews of books written on the Kingdom of Benin (in modern-day Nigeria!) and, more specifically, on the British “punitive expedition” of 1897, during which thousands of art and artifacts were seized from Benin City, a few in retaliation for an aggressive action that had occurred about a month earlier.  Dan Hicks’s The Brutish Museums: The Benin Bronzes, Colonial Violence and Cultural Restitution, appeared to be the most comprehensive coverage of the event and its surrounding history.  I started my education with the Hicks book, and continued with John Warne Monroe’s Metropolitan Fetish: African Sculpture and the Imperial French Invention of Primitive Art and Nigel Barley’s The Art of Benin.  Only after completing an in-depth study of the Benin Bronzes and related history did I feel confident enough to write the opening sentence of a present-day murder mystery in which they play a pivotal role: To Kingdom Come.

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AUTHOR BIO:

Claudia Riess is an award-winning author of seven novels, four of which form her art history mystery series published by Level Best Books.  She has worked in the editorial departments of The New Yorker and Holt, Rinehart and Winston, and has edited several art history monographs.  Stolen Light, the first book in her series, was chosen by Vassar’s Latin American history professor for distribution to the college’s people-to-people trips to Cuba.  To Kingdom Come, the fourth and most recent, will be added to the syllabus of a survey course on West and Central African Art at a prominent Midwest university.  Claudia has written a number of articles for Mystery Readers Journal, Women’s National Book Association, and Mystery Scene magazine.  At present, she’s consulting with her protagonists about a questionable plot twist in Chapter 9 of the duo’s murder investigation unfolding in book 5; working title: Dreaming of Monet, scheduled for release winter 2024.  For more about Riess and her work, visit www.claudiariessbooks.com.

All four books in the art history mystery series are available through Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, IndieBound.org and at independent book stores. For bulk discount purchases, contact https://levelbestbooks.wordpress.com.

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CONNECT WITH CLAUDIA:

Website:

https://claudiariessbooks.com

Email:

claudiariessbooks@gmail.com

Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/ClaudiaRiessBooks

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/ClaudiaRiess

Pinterest:

https://www.pinterest.com/claudiariessbooks

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/claudiariessbooks

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHMdwW0-l7Ny_Y8Sy_32a0w

Goodreads Author Page:

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3052782.Claudia_Riess

Goodreads Book Page:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61165646-to-kingdom-come

Amazon Author Page:

https://amzn.to/30SHm45

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BOOK BUY LINKS:

Amazon US Kindle eBook:

https://amzn.to/3znv2tw

Amazon US Paperback:

https://amzn.to/3yZ4kWS

Amazon CA Kindle eBook:

https://www.amazon.ca/Kingdom-Come-Art-History-Mystery-ebook/dp/B09Z1KFNB4

Amazon CA Paperback:

https://www.amazon.ca/Kingdom-Come-Art-History-Mystery/dp/1685121101

Barnes and Noble NOOK eBook:

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/to-kingdom-come-claudia-riess/1141597214?ean=9781685121112

Barnes and Noble Paperback:

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/to-kingdom-come-claudia-riess/1141597214?ean=9781685121105

Kobo US eBook:

https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/to-kingdom-come-4

Kobo CA eBook:

https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/ebook/to-kingdom-come-4

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GIVEAWAY INFO:

Claudia will be awarding a $25 Amazon OR Barnes and Noble Gift Card (Winner’s Choice!!!) to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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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.