I know, it seems all I do is complain. There are RULES to writing a novel - good, smart rules. There are really good reasons to adhere to these rules, mainly because they make for a better book and an interesting read. In the first four chapters, most of these major rules were broken, and not for the good of literary fiction. The prologue, the dull detail-enhanced opening, the over-wrought names, the descriptive glances in the mirror. There were family trees and pointless backstory offered. And not that all the bits and pieces weren't researched and convincing - there was just too much of it and none of it really FIT. Our protagonist has all the typical features - red hair, nice figure, clever fashion sense, a brilliant job where she's adored by students only five years younger. She remembers a lot - childhood memories triggered conveniently by passing objects. There's a murdered corpse in the room and she notices missing artwork and has a flashback. She also knows art, music, history, and furniture - and references odd/obscure facts at random. She prefers Mozart to Handel, can discern British accents by region, drives a quirky car. She has a bizarre name and no explanation is ever offered for this. My biggest complaint is how the pieces offered just never fit. For instance, we're told her father died by suicide when she was 13. She's now in her late 20's. I assumed we were told this detail because it would somehow matter to the story, that we readers would be asked to recall this at some point. When a character dies and it is assumed to be suicide, our protagonist is convinced that it is murder. Why are we given that particular detail if the character fails to react to it? I found there were incidents that made me distrust the author. For instance, a couple arrives at a family member's home. They are expected. The three enormous dogs greet them and bark, finally running off after a squirrel. Yet, once they enter the home (the door was unlocked) the owner/Aunt pulls a gun on them. Why? She didn't hear them coming. You INVITED THEM and the dogs were barking - it's broad daylight, but yet your first impulse is to pull a rifle out?I was also annoyed by the details offered about art and literature. I love Tennyson's The Lady of Shalott, it's one of my favorite poems. There were lots of ways the poem could have been woven into the story exclusively, driven the work, instead the author muddied the waters (bad pun) with other poetry/epitaphs, confusing (rather than educating) us. We get it, you're smart and know lots of little details.The drinking and sex seemed to be tacked on, to be an afterthought to make our protagonist sound grown up. She has this great love that she's mourning, this guy she might be interested in, yet she boinks some other guy.As usual, I did finish this book, but I did a fast skim, reading every-other-page or so. For a book that has so many good reviews (and not just on goodreads), I'm embarrassed that I can't find anything positive to add. I loved the cover design and the grammar/editing was good. Beyond that, it could have used another round of revision...
I was intrigued by the main character of this book, Sweeney St. George, an art history professor in her late twenties who is atypical of other professors. Sweeney would rather wear jeans and clothes found at vintage shops than "stuffy" professor-wear. Sweeney's academic focus is on the art of gravestones and other funereal art. Her friend Toby shows her a photo of a very unique gravestone, and invites Sweeney to spend the Christmas holiday with him at his aunt and uncle's home on an artist's colony in Vermont, where the gravestone is located. Shortly before Sweeney arrives, a woman who is a descendant of the name on the gravestone is murdered. Sweeney wants to solve the mystery of the 115-year old gravestone. Is there a connection between the gravestone and the present day murder?I read this in one sitting, and really enjoyed it. My only complaint is there are a lot of characters in this book. I had difficulty trying to remember who's who, especially when it came to the ancestors of the arts colony. I really liked Sweeney and am looking forward to getting to know her in the other books in the series. The second book is Mansions of the Dead, and I've already reserved a copy at my library. I'd recommend this to anyone looking for a good mystery and an interesting character.
What do You think about O' Artful Death (2004)?
A nice mystery novel.This is a first novel and it shows. Some of the writing is clumsy, the author often tells rather than shows, and she introduces too many characters at once, so it's hard to tell them apart. Also there's a love story that isn't believable. However, she's got a good story, with a cool setting and premise. Once I was about 3/4 of the way through, I couldn't put it down because I wanted to find out the solution to the mystery. She kind of wraps things up quickly, but she didn't cheat. The elements of the explanation were there all along, not suddenly introduced at the end. I look forward to reading some of her subsequent books.
—Didi
Read the the fourth book in this series first and remember liking it. Thought I'd start at the beginning. I read that later book in the series this past summer so I really don't remember much about it, but the heroine, Sweeney St. George seems a bit different in this book. Of course, this book is the first in a new series and by the fourth, the author may have fleshed and developed her more, but I really am not sure at this point. Another good mystery heroine that doesn't got off half-cocked. Actually, in this book, Sweeney gets involved in solving some deaths during the course of her investigation into an unusual gravestone. Sweeney is a college professor and her research is in the funerary aspects of death. It is quite gratifying to have a heroine who really has not come across dead bodies before and is shaken by her first. I think this is one series to continue.
—Barbara
It's the holiday season and as winter falls starkly over Boston, Sweeney's worried about her career and grappling with some personal demons. When her best friend shows her photographs of an atypical gravestone in a seemingly idyllic Vermont town that was once a famous arts colony, she's interested enough to look into the history of the bizarre monumental sculpture — and the life and untimely demise of the young artist's model buried beneath it. But her inquiries are followed by a suspicious death, and as Sweeney becomes more and more obsessed with the anomalous stone, she is drawn to Vermont and into a hundred-year-old murder mystery and the lives of a family and their neighbors in the colony. Before long, she has another murder on her hands and she's in a race to find out the truth about the gravestone. Sweeney St. George is a professor at Harvard specializing in the art of the grave. I learned an enormous amount from this series regarding funerary art. This book mostly takes place at a fictional art colony in Vermont, and the twists and turns are entertaining, the characters interesting.first title in the Sweeney St. George seriessee also Jane Langston, Casey Daniels
—Terry
