John Singer Sargent/Violet Paget Mysteries

The death of a humble clergyman in 1877 leads amateur cleuths Violet Paget and John Singer Sargent into a medieval world of saints and kings--including the legendary Arthur--as they follow a trail of relics and antiquities lost since the destruction of Glastonbury Abbey in 1539. Written in alternating chapters between the two time periods, The Spoils of Avalon creates a sparkling, magical mystery that bridges the gap between two worlds that could hardly be more different: the industrialized, Darwinian, materialistic Victorian Age and the agricultural, faith-infused life of a medieval abbey on the brink of violent change at the hands of Henry VIII and Thomas Cromwell. First in a new series of historical mysteries, The Spoils of Avalon introduces two life-long friends as a different kind of detecting team, beginning as young people on the verge of making their names famous for the next several decades throughout Europe and America: the brillian and brittle Violet Paget, known as the writer Vernon Lee, and the talented, genial portrait painter John Singer Sargent. (300 pages in paperback edition) "The Spoils of Avalon blends the rich details of historical fiction with the suspenseful, clue-driven sleuthing that characterizes the best in mystery. Dual timelines and missing Arthurian artifacts add delightful layers to this compelling, well-written series, which not only offers a unique, artistic twist on the "Holmes and Watson" detecting pair but places a female sleuth--the brilliant Violet Paget--in the driver's seat. A must for fans of historical mysteries." -- Susan Spann, author of the Shinobi Mysteries "What an engaging, literate page-turner! The author does so many things well in this historical novel. First, she creates two mysteries that take place centuries apart, both of them well-plotted and full of the sweet tension that mystery readers will love. Second, she develops a witty, likable pair of characters from historical friends, Violet Paget and John Singer Sargent. Third, she gently educates readers about history, art, legend, and the grand events involving Henry VIII's break with the Roman Catholic Church. Finally, she creates two past worlds so effectively that I enjoyed losing myself in them, and suspending my twenty-first century skepticisms." -- Mark Wiederanders, author of Stevenson's Treasure.

This second mystery finds amateur sleuths John Singer Sargent and Violet Paget afloat in murder in the fabled City of Venice during the darkest days of the year (1879). Secrets and long-held grudges surface at Ca' Favretto, an ancient palazzo on the Grand Canal, which has been recently purchased and refurbished by an Italian artist and good friend of Sargent--but will the ghosts of the past allow the new inhabitants to live in peace? Join the ever-engaging duo in their latest detecting adventure for a taste of both the 18th and 19th centuries in Italy!

A True Story that Reads Like Fiction In 1856, young Moses Shapira entered the Jaffa Gate of old Jerusalem, determined to make his fortune any way he could. By 1872, he was widely recognized as the foremost antiquarian dealer in Europe. Tourists from around the world came to his shop in the Street of the Christians. Museums fought to buy his Moabite figures and pots, excavated with the help of Bedouin tribes, deep in the caves above the Wadi Mujib in Moab. In 1883, he revealed his greatest find-sixteen strips of hand-inked, leather-like documents-3,000 years old. They told an earlier version of the Last Words of Moses to the Hebrews: what became known as the Book of Deuteronomy. But this version had an extra commandment: Thou shalt not slay the soul of thy brother. He offered them to the British Museum for a million pounds. The London papers could talk of little else than "The Shapira Scrolls" for three months. But were they authentic? Everything hung on the judgement of two scholars, Christian David Ginsburg, a friend to Moses, and Charles Clermont-Ganneau, his arch-enemy. By the end of the summer, both men declared the scrolls were a forgery, and Moses Shapira left London in disgrace. Six months later, he was found in a shabby hotel in Rotterdam, a bullet through his head. But was it suicide, as the police seemed to think-or was it murder? John Singer Sargent and Violet Paget face their most perplexing case yet, as they become involved in investigating the death of Moses Shapira-and determining the fate of the Shapira Scrolls.