Coming in 2021: A New Liz Phillips/Det. John Flynn Mystery
Over the course of five books, readers have watched Liz Phillips and Detective John Flynn work parallel paths in the flower show world without ever meeting; then discover one another’s existence in the suburban Boston town of Hardington. In my next book, Liz and Detective Flynn are again on the case together.
The plot? Liz Phillips’ good friend, Roland Evans-Jones, has agreed to lend an 1889 painting by a minor American Impressionist artist to an upcoming Museum of Fine Arts exhibition. When the painting is taken out of its frame to be cleaned, several pages from the artist’s journal are found. Those pages tell of the artist witnessing the late-night burial in Hardington of two bodies by one of the most eminent artists of the age. But it is a murder that had never been reported, let alone investigated. Liz, Roland, and Detective John Flynn set out to solve a 130-plus-year-old mystery: was a famous American artist implicated in the death of two men in Hardington when that town was home to an artists’ colony?
In the process of uncovering – literally – the clues to that long-ago crime, they stumble onto a much more recent mystery: the discovery of a kilogram-weight gold bar inside a Zip-Loc bag at the spot where the bodies were believed to be buried. Though separated by more than a century, there are strong similarities in the two cases: a protagonist on the run who comes to quiet, out-of-the-way Hardington to elude pursuers, with ensuing bloodshed.
The book takes you into the world of art both in the late nineteenth century and in the second decade of the twenty-first. The two central figures in the 1889 murder are invented, but they move in a landscape populated by historically accurate figures. The tale of what happens to the two men in the years following the murder is a study in wealth and privilege in that earlier era. The book also describes the contemporary world of art research and restoration; and the lengths people will go to protect reputations. The contemporary, parallel story takes you into the world of robocalls and internet: ‘phishing’, identity theft and violence among thieves.
Regular readers also know of the growing attraction between Liz and Flynn. At the conclusion of A Murder on the Garden Tour, both characters had seen their seemingly settled lives upended by their respective spouses. The new books opens just a month after the conclusion of Garden Tour. All I can say is, a lot is happening.
The draft is completed. Look for the book in early spring, 2021.