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Artist, Lover, Forger, Thief
The reviews are in! Sheila's debut novel has started to receive praise and recognition from various review publications. Prairies Book Review says, "Sharpe dives headlong into the murky waters of identity, obsession, and deception in her smart, psychologically charged thriller [Artist, Lover, Forger, Thief]. It explores the blurry line between art and artifice, healing and manipulation, love and control. [T]his is a genre-bending literary thriller that lingers long after the final page." And, scoring 5/5 on Reader's Favorite, "Artist, Lover, Forger, Thief...is a gripping tale set amidst the opulent yet treacherous world of high-end art crime in San Diego...[It explores] the moral dilemmas of art forgery, theft, and deception, with each character caught between their desires and the consequences of their actions. This stellar examination of art, deception, and forgery kept me riveted."Artist, Lover, Forger, Thief is a riveting, wildly entertaining, complex, and adrenaline-fueled art crime novel that is as intriguing as it is satisfying. Nick McCoy wants out of the art forgery business but not until he exacts revenge on the man who murdered his family years ago. Kate O'Dade, McCoy's former therapist, comes to him for help after mysteriously receiving a painting of Matisse's Open Window from an unknown benefactor. This seemingly innocent meeting to determine its authenticity sets off a chain of events that will take McCoy, O'Dade, Cromwell and his new team of investigators from San Diego to England, and from art forgery to murder.
Rarely do you find such complex characters, intricate plot, compelling subject, and cunning psychological jousting woven throughout such a memorable story like Sharpe does in Artist, Lover, Forger, Thief.
Rarely do you find such complex characters, intricate plot, compelling subject, and cunning psychological jousting woven throughout such a memorable story like Sharpe does in Artist, Lover, Forger, Thief.
- GenresMystery
334 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 26, 2025
51 people are currently reading
54 people want to read
About the author
Sheila Sharpe
8 books10 followersSheila Sharpe has been a therapist for more than forty years, specializing in treating trauma, couples, and artists. Being a detective of sorts to determine patients’ issues and their solutions like she does in The Ways We Love, along with her past history as an artist and fascination with art forgery, led to the creation of her new fiction book series, the Kate O’Dade Art Crime novels.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
July 1, 2025
There is more to a painting than meets the eye, and nobody knows this better than Nick McCoy, art conservator at the Steele Museum in San Diego, California. Underneath his polished exterior, Nick is a conman and notorious forger, intent on exacting revenge. However, when attractive ex-therapist Kate O’Dade asks him to authenticate a famous Matisse painting mysteriously left on her doorstep by an anonymous benefactor, a game of cat and mouse ensues, where secrets are revealed and the stakes are high.
With its in-depth knowledge of art, forgery, and candid exploration of human nature, Artist, Lover, Forger, Thief by Sheila Sharpe is a truly riveting novel. The depth of knowledge surrounding the intricacies of conservation, as well as the secrets of imitation, makes art a central theme in this story. Indeed, the plot is infused with fascinating real-world information: for example, air maintained at a seventy-degree temperature is ideal for preserving paintings. This has the effect of enhancing plot authenticity, immersing the reader in the special world of art.
The use of multiple third-person points of view allows direct access to the mindsets of the characters. This includes Nick and Kate’s perspectives, as well as Steele’s long-suffering wife, Raquel, and Chief Inspector Eddie Cromwell, the detective intent on pursuing Nick. This broadens the narrative, creating intrigue and building tension, as the story is portrayed through different lenses.
As well as maintaining an excellent pace with its plot-focused style, the characters are three-dimensional and well-developed. Nick McCoy is a complex protagonist, with various flaws and redeeming features. Despite being a successful imitator of famous artists’ work, he struggles to express himself in his own art, which is an ongoing source of frustration. Cunning and deceitful, yet also, at times, sensitive and vulnerable, Nick is a series of contradictions.
Kate O’Dade also suffers from issues surrounding identity, longing to escape the “good girl” role assigned to her. The blossoming romantic relationship between these two central characters kept me guessing until the very end, with sharp dialogue creating heat and intrigue, adding a dose of sizzling chemistry that seemed to leap off the page. While abusive tycoon Dixon Steele and his sleazy son, Simon, arouse visceral feelings of loathing in the reader, other characters are easier to root for, balancing out the different voices.
Intertextuality invites engagement, further enriching the narrative. An example of this is when Nick listens to Freddie Mercury while painting, even singing along to the lyrics at one point, imagining himself joining “Freddie, Queen, and the seventy-two thousand people in the Live Aid audience . . .” References to real events and quotes by various artists also add new layers of meaning.
Not to be missed by fans of mysteries and crime thrillers, Artist, Lover, Forger, Thief by Sheila Sharpe is a psychologically on-point story, with twists and turns that keep the reader guessing until the very last sentence. With its labyrinth of secrets, deception, disguises, and forgery, this high-stakes heist mystery is infused with edge-of-your-seat suspense. Unputdownable and utterly addictive, Sharpe has crafted the perfect art-crime thriller.
With its in-depth knowledge of art, forgery, and candid exploration of human nature, Artist, Lover, Forger, Thief by Sheila Sharpe is a truly riveting novel. The depth of knowledge surrounding the intricacies of conservation, as well as the secrets of imitation, makes art a central theme in this story. Indeed, the plot is infused with fascinating real-world information: for example, air maintained at a seventy-degree temperature is ideal for preserving paintings. This has the effect of enhancing plot authenticity, immersing the reader in the special world of art.
The use of multiple third-person points of view allows direct access to the mindsets of the characters. This includes Nick and Kate’s perspectives, as well as Steele’s long-suffering wife, Raquel, and Chief Inspector Eddie Cromwell, the detective intent on pursuing Nick. This broadens the narrative, creating intrigue and building tension, as the story is portrayed through different lenses.
As well as maintaining an excellent pace with its plot-focused style, the characters are three-dimensional and well-developed. Nick McCoy is a complex protagonist, with various flaws and redeeming features. Despite being a successful imitator of famous artists’ work, he struggles to express himself in his own art, which is an ongoing source of frustration. Cunning and deceitful, yet also, at times, sensitive and vulnerable, Nick is a series of contradictions.
Kate O’Dade also suffers from issues surrounding identity, longing to escape the “good girl” role assigned to her. The blossoming romantic relationship between these two central characters kept me guessing until the very end, with sharp dialogue creating heat and intrigue, adding a dose of sizzling chemistry that seemed to leap off the page. While abusive tycoon Dixon Steele and his sleazy son, Simon, arouse visceral feelings of loathing in the reader, other characters are easier to root for, balancing out the different voices.
Intertextuality invites engagement, further enriching the narrative. An example of this is when Nick listens to Freddie Mercury while painting, even singing along to the lyrics at one point, imagining himself joining “Freddie, Queen, and the seventy-two thousand people in the Live Aid audience . . .” References to real events and quotes by various artists also add new layers of meaning.
Not to be missed by fans of mysteries and crime thrillers, Artist, Lover, Forger, Thief by Sheila Sharpe is a psychologically on-point story, with twists and turns that keep the reader guessing until the very last sentence. With its labyrinth of secrets, deception, disguises, and forgery, this high-stakes heist mystery is infused with edge-of-your-seat suspense. Unputdownable and utterly addictive, Sharpe has crafted the perfect art-crime thriller.
September 6, 2025
Artist, Lover, Forger, Thief is a thrilling, shocking, and memorable thriller that will take its readers on a twisty-turny journey. The reader in Artist, Lover, Forger, Thief will be introduced to the protagonist of the book, Nick McCoy, an art forger who is desperate to leave his criminal past behind but is determined to seek revenge for the murder of his family. Meanwhile, his former therapist, Kate O’Dade, comes to him for help after mysteriously receiving a painting, which sets off a chain reaction that draws them both into a tangled web of art crime and murder, spanning from San Diego to England, and it makes for a thrilling read like no other!
The story of Artist, Lover, Forger, Thief is a magnificent one that is full of many exciting moments and many twists and turns. As the reader reads this book, they will always be kept on edge thanks to the unexpected turns the reader will experience; these twists and turns will guarantee the reader keeps reading. They will feel compelled to do so, and that is the sheer beauty of this novel! The excellent author of this novel, Sheila Sharpe, effortlessly takes the reader on a thrilling journey; Sharpe’s words managed to keep me intrigued as well as entertained as I raced through this book. It is the kind of book that is impossible to put down, and when I had to, I longed for it! I wanted to be reunited with the story I had grown to love and the characters I had become invested in.
Sheila Sharpe is a talented and well-accomplished author who has written an unforgettable novel that features heavily on its characters and themes. Sharpe’s characters are superb, and I think every reader will be able to invest in them. They are believable, and their narratives jump right off the page and into the reader’s mind. This is another thing… Sharpe has managed to create a vivid picture in my mind of this setting she has established. Sharpe’s sometimes long, descriptive sentences captured my imagination and made me turn the pages with haste!
The story of Artist, Lover, Forger, Thief is a magnificent one that is full of many exciting moments and many twists and turns. As the reader reads this book, they will always be kept on edge thanks to the unexpected turns the reader will experience; these twists and turns will guarantee the reader keeps reading. They will feel compelled to do so, and that is the sheer beauty of this novel! The excellent author of this novel, Sheila Sharpe, effortlessly takes the reader on a thrilling journey; Sharpe’s words managed to keep me intrigued as well as entertained as I raced through this book. It is the kind of book that is impossible to put down, and when I had to, I longed for it! I wanted to be reunited with the story I had grown to love and the characters I had become invested in.
Sheila Sharpe is a talented and well-accomplished author who has written an unforgettable novel that features heavily on its characters and themes. Sharpe’s characters are superb, and I think every reader will be able to invest in them. They are believable, and their narratives jump right off the page and into the reader’s mind. This is another thing… Sharpe has managed to create a vivid picture in my mind of this setting she has established. Sharpe’s sometimes long, descriptive sentences captured my imagination and made me turn the pages with haste!
June 6, 2025
Sharpe dives headlong into the murky waters of identity, obsession, and deception in her smart, psychologically charged thriller. Nick McCoy is trying to walk away from a long career in art forgery, but not before pulling off one final, calculated act of revenge against Dixon Steele, a man with a violent past and far too much power. Meanwhile, his former therapist, Kate O’Dade, still reeling from the loss of her husband, gets pulled back into McCoy’s world when a Matisse painting shows up unannounced on her doorstep. The painting, and her decision to ask Nick for help, set off a chain of events involving stolen art, past crimes, concealed identities, and more than one murder.
The novel flashes between perspectives: Nick’s hard-boiled, sardonic voice and Kate’s more introspective, cautious tone. This structure gives readers an intimate look into the lives of two people forever marked by what they’ve lost and what they still want. Sharpe, a psychologist by training, is most comfortable when her characters are emotionally raw. Nick is a tangle of charm, calculation, and inner ruin. Kate is steadier but just as complex. The prose is polished, often lyrical, with a painterly attention to detail. The art world is described with both reverence and razor-sharp critique. Scenes in which Nick evaluates forged Monets, or navigates the underworld of high-end restoration are some of the book’s most fascinating.
But what keeps the novel ticking is its thematic depth. This is a book about what it means to be seen, to be misread, to be copied. It explores the blurry line between art and artifice, healing and manipulation, love and control. A meditation on truth in all its forms—painted, spoken, and withheld—this is a genre-bending literary thriller that lingers long after the final page.
The novel flashes between perspectives: Nick’s hard-boiled, sardonic voice and Kate’s more introspective, cautious tone. This structure gives readers an intimate look into the lives of two people forever marked by what they’ve lost and what they still want. Sharpe, a psychologist by training, is most comfortable when her characters are emotionally raw. Nick is a tangle of charm, calculation, and inner ruin. Kate is steadier but just as complex. The prose is polished, often lyrical, with a painterly attention to detail. The art world is described with both reverence and razor-sharp critique. Scenes in which Nick evaluates forged Monets, or navigates the underworld of high-end restoration are some of the book’s most fascinating.
But what keeps the novel ticking is its thematic depth. This is a book about what it means to be seen, to be misread, to be copied. It explores the blurry line between art and artifice, healing and manipulation, love and control. A meditation on truth in all its forms—painted, spoken, and withheld—this is a genre-bending literary thriller that lingers long after the final page.
September 23, 2025
Hungry for a sophisticated crime thriller with a twisty plot? Order up Dr. Sheila Sharpe’s new release Artist, Lover, Forger, Thief and you won’t be disappointed. In her debut novel, Sharpe paints a deliciously intricate story full of quirky and flawed characters entangled in an international gambit to catch the notorious Phantom, a legendary art thief and forger who has eluded capture for years. Unsuspecting, but not entirely innocent, psychologist Kate O’Dade tries save her former patient (the Phantom?) from the police and himself, only to become ensnared in a tense and oftentimes steamy drama as the police and a vicious art dealer race to find him. Among the many things I admire about this book is how Sharpe places her chops as a psychologist/therapist, art forgery aficionado, artist (yes, she was an artist too!), and now a gifted writer on full display. Meticulously researched and years in the writing, Artist, Lover, Forger, Thief will keep you guessing until the last page. And here’s the kicker for those of us not ready to say goodbye to her characters, Sharpe has created a new fiction book series, the Kate O’Dade Art Crime Novels. Thanks, Doc!
April 17, 2025
I loved this art crime thriller. It was an absolute page-turner. The characters drew me in and their psychological machinations kept me intrigued. The author's knowledge of fine art and the dangerous world of art forgery (who knew?) is extensive. I recommend to anyone who loves their thrillers fast paced!
April 20, 2025
Good read
Nick is forger of art. Kate is his therapist. There is a lot of information about art. Some language. No sex. Well written. Great characters.
Nick is forger of art. Kate is his therapist. There is a lot of information about art. Some language. No sex. Well written. Great characters.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews