BLOG TOUR: A Trace of Deceit by Karen Odden @karen_odden @tlcbooktours @morrow_pb @wmmorrowbooks #atraceofdeceit

A Victorian mystery with everything you could want—a strong leading lady, a murder in London’s art world, a meticulous detective, and a missing painting. A Trace of Deceit is a gripping and complex mystery set in the world of Victorian London’s art scene that historical mystery fans will not want to miss!

About the Book

From the author of A Dangerous Duet comes the next book in her Victorian mystery series, this time following a daring female painter and the Scotland Yard detective who is investigating her brother’s suspicious death.

A young painter digs beneath the veneer of Victorian London’s art world to learn the truth behind her brother’s murder…

Edwin is dead. That’s what Inspector Matthew Hallam of Scotland Yard tells Annabel Rowe when she discovers him searching her brother’s flat for clues. While the news is shocking, Annabel can’t say it’s wholly unexpected, given Edwin’s past as a dissolute risk-taker and art forger, although he swore he’d reformed. After years spent blaming his reckless behavior for their parents’ deaths, Annabel is now faced with the question of who murdered him—because Edwin’s death was both violent and deliberate. A valuable French painting he’d been restoring for an auction house is missing from his studio: find the painting, find the murderer. But the owner of the artwork claims it was destroyed in a warehouse fire years ago.

As a painter at the prestigious Slade School of Art and as Edwin’s closest relative, Annabel makes the case that she is crucial to Matthew’s investigation. But in their search for the painting, Matthew and Annabel trace a path of deceit and viciousness that reaches far beyond the elegant rooms of the auction house, into an underworld of politics, corruption, and secrets someone will kill to keep.

Reflection

Though it’s the second in a series by Karen Odden, A Trace of Deceit definitely works as a stand-alone mystery. The series is based on the time period and our leading detective Matthew Hallam. Though Hallam is the detective here, I felt that this mystery is truly about Annabel Rowe, the mystery of her brother’s murder, and the art world.

I’ve always loved mysteries involving art! Art is rare in a way that a dollar worth can’t quite capture. It is part of history, it is passion, it is intelligence, and it is creation. If there is one thing this mystery shows, it’s that secrets in the art world are worth killing for…

Annabel is an art student and she has spent a long time feeling somewhat estranged from her brother Edwin. Edwin has served time for art forgery in the past, so when Annabel finds Scotland Yard in his apartment one afternoon, she worries he is up to his old tricks again. Edwin has been murdered and the search for clues reveals a famous painting that he was restoring is missing from his flat. To further complicate matters, the painting was alleged to have burned in a fire several years earlier. Was it a forgery or the real painting?

I liked the focus on Annabel and her relationship with her brother. Edwin’s past was very troubled, but there were years in childhood where Annabel and Edwin were close. When they got older and Edwin had troubles with alcohol and ultimately with drugs, he stopped being the same brother she once knew. This added to the complexity of the mystery, because Annabel sought not just to discover who murdered Edwin, but also to understand who he was and what was happening in his life that led to his death.

Not only did I find the mystery to be completely gripping, but I found Annabel herself to be such a great character. I like to see a progressive Victorian woman, and Annabel seems to have that liberal nature that we want, but also authentic to the time.

The book itself is filled with intrigue, tension, and suspense. I didn’t want it to end!

Thank you to TLC Book Tours and William Morrow for my copy. Opinions are my own.

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About the Author

Karen Odden received her PhD in English literature from New York University and has taught at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor. She currently serves as an assistant editor for the academic journal Victorian Literature and Culture. Her debut novel, A Lady in the Smoke, was a USA Today bestseller.

Find out more about Karen at her website, and connect with her on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.