When a traveling show of impressionist art comes to Nags Head, North Carolina, librarian Lucy and the staff at the Bodie Island Lighthouse Library are inspired to create an educational display about art history. Their launch of the display is a huge success, but the morning after, they discover that a reproduction of a famous painting has gone missing.
No one knows why anyone would bother stealing it: the picture is of no value–the real, priceless painting is under lock and key at the art show itself. Lucy gets an invite to the glitzy opening night for the real show, where she notices unusual tension among the show’s organizers. Then, the man scheduled to give the welcoming speech fails to arrive, and a partygoer is discovered drowned in a fishpond.
Meanwhile, Louise Jane is totally captivated by Tom Reilly, a handsome, charming art dealer lurking at the edges of the receptions on both nights. Tom slipped away from the party early, and he cannot be located by the police. Who, Lucy asks, is Tom Reilly, the shadowy figure threatening to break Louise Jane’s heart?
Something is afoot in Nags Head, and it’s up to Lucy and her friends to get to the bottom of it before it’s not just paintings being framed.
I was planning on being an art teacher, so starting the novel about art history immediately grabbed my attention. I was captured by the mystery of the painting and the artist. It will be interesting to read about Louise Jane and what happens after Paris.
I took a point off because of what Louise Jane and Lucy did at the end of the book. Especially because Lucy still allows Louise Jane to push her around. Would it be possible for Lucy to grow up a bit more in the next book?
Overall, I rate this novel 4 out of 5 stars.
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