Blue Smoke and Murder (2008)

Elizabeth Lowell

Year:	2008
Authors:	Elizabeth Lowell
Publishers:	Avon Books
Pages:	404
Print type:	BOOK

Description:

Jill Breck was just doing her job as a river guide when she saved the life of Lane Faroe, son of two of St. Kilda's Consulting premier operators. But when her great-aunt dies in a suspicious fire, a dozen old family paintings kick over a hornet's nest in the closed world of the Western art circuit, and her own life is threatened, she must call in a favour. Zach Balfour works part-time as a consultant for St. Kilda. His expertise is gathering and analysing information from unlikely and often dangerous sources; in a pinch, he'll act as a bodyguard, though being bullet catcher isn't his preferred way to spend time. While trying to keep Jill alive, Zach learns again what he already knew: collectors can be a strange, savagely competitive bunch. Some of them will do anything to stay at the top of their chosen field...including kill. While pursuing the truth of the paintings she has always loved, Jill discovers that the perils of running wild rivers fade next to the hidden dangers in the high-stakes game of art collecting.From the ordinary dust of the Breck homestead cabin to the extraordinary multimillion dollar Western art circuit, Zach and Jill race to stay alive despite the claims and counterclaims, threats and lies, and the death that waits inside the blue smoke of salesmanship and the brutal truth of murder.