What a Picture's Worth

Creative Woman Mysteries #4

by Susan Page Davis

#4 in the Creative Woman Mysteries by Annie's Attic Mysteries publisher. Shannon from Scotland moved to Apple Grove Oregon to inherit her Grandmother's home and Craft store. But mysterious murders and unexplained crimes keep happening and Shannon tries to solve the crimes!

Genres: Mystery, Cozy Mystery, Fiction, Christian Fiction

224 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2013

About the author

FROM AUTHOR'S WEBSITE: I'm a native of central Maine, and grew up on a small farm with a wonderful mom and dad, three sisters and a brother. Most of my books take place in small towns, many of them in Maine.

My husband, Jim, and I moved to his birth state, Oregon, for a while after we were married, but decided to move back to Maine and be near my family. It allowed our six children to grow up feeling close to their cousins and grandparents, and some of Jim's family have even moved to Maine!

Our children are all home-schooled. When Jim retired from his vocation as an editor at a daily newspaper, we moved from Maine to Kentucky.

I've always loved reading, history, and horses. These things come together in several of my historical books.
Another longtime hobby of mine is genealogy, which has led me down many fascinating paths. I'm proud to be a DAR member! Some of Jim's and my quirkier ancestors have inspired fictional characters.

For many years I worked for the Central Maine Morning Sentinel as a freelancer. This experience was a great help in developing fictional characters and writing realistic scenes. I also published nonfiction articles in several magazines and had several short stories appear in Woman's World, Grit, and Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine.

Reviews

[Jerry (Rebel With a Massive Media Library) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another fun little cozy mystery in this series.

[Jennifer Robb · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would place this between 3.5 and 4 stars (rating shown may vary depending on whether site allows half star ratings).

I am enjoying another series by Susan Page Davis (the Maine Justice series) and didn't realize she wrote also for Annie's Fiction until this book. A friend (CC) sent me several books from a different Annie's Fiction series (Secrets of the Castleton Manor Library) and as I finished those, I went to my local Half Price Books to see if they had others. I did not find any from that series but I did find several from this series.

Given that the series is named Creative Woman I thought several crafts might be represented, but it seems to be mostly knitting, beading, and a bit of jewelry making. Though Shannon does rent lofts to at least 2 painters--one of them being Fredo Benson.

Based on the title, I expected there to be some discovery about a painting/picture. I wasn't sure if it would be that one thought to be a reproduction or worthless would turn out to be an original and be valuable OR if it would be that one assumed to be an original would turn out to be a forgery or a reproduction or not to have been done by the artist people thought it had been done by. Another option would have been to have a picture be a key point in solving the mystery.

There were several pictures in the story:
*Fredo had sketches and a painting of the inside of Shannon's house
*Lana's art textbook had a picture of Mrs. Reid's relative with the beaded bag that Shannon is restoring that was done by Milford--an apparently famous Art Deco painter of portraits for the upper class.

Shannon is not as hands on with the mystery through parts of this book. So at least we are escaping the trope of "the police are incompetent and I must help them solve this mystery or it will never be solved" that sometimes plagues the genre.

I kind of wish the series would resolve the Michael/Shannon will they or won't they romance angle. Either have one or the other ask the other on a date or have them both decide to be friends--but quit harping on the will they just be friends or do they want something more angle. 4 books in and it's already a bit annoying.

[Millie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought the story was short...but i liked how it was written and Shannon is such a sweet soul. I kept thinking how can someone put people she loves first in such a genuine way without feeling short changed. I loved her character.

[Jean Hall · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have enjoyed several of the books in this series and plan to read more. Good characters and interactions plus a mystery to solve.

[Barbara Cunningham · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love these cozy Mysteries!!

[Barb Ratcliffe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Entertaining mystery about an antique purse.

[Debby · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this story. It was riveting from the start. I can't wait to read more in the series.

[Pat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Shannon has yet another murder--this time one of the artist renting a loft in her store. Why did this artist have sketches and paintings of her home from the inside in his loft? All of this is going on as Shannon sees her twins off to college in Portland.

[J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

An artist and art Deco bead purse is at the center of this Creative Woman Mystery where Shannon’s discovery leads to murder. The author drops several clues along the way for the reader to follow and guess who is really misbehaving this time.

[Melanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick, fun read.

[Joyce Buehrle · Rating 4 out of 5]

can't wait till I get the next book in series!