"strong romantic suspense thriller"

Jill Breck is a Colorado River guide whose current clients are father and son Joe and Lane Faroe. Jill knows the river like the back of her hand so when Lane goes overboard, she jumps in and saves him from a sure death in the rapids. His grateful father gives a card from St. Kilda's Consulting to her, a top of the line private security firm, and tells her if she ever needs any help call the number.

When her Great Aunt Modesty dies in what the local sheriff claims was an unfortunate accident, Jill goes to Northern Arizona to settle the estate. Everything burned down except the cabin Jill lived in as a child and a note from Modesty directing her to the hiding place only her late aunt, her mom and Jill knew. Inside are twenty paintings and a letter saying she sent one out to be appraised but the response was it was worthless, misplaced, and how about $2000 to make up for the neglect. Jill sends Jpeg pictures of the paintings to various dealers and galleries only to receive a death threat.

Jill calls St Kilda who sends operative Zach Balfour to find out and eliminate the problem. Someone who sees the Jpegs believes they are pictures of originals though unsigned Dunstans. The buzz in the art world reaches an investor who does not want Dunstans on the market or even authenticated. This adversary hires a goon to kill Jill or burn the paintings whichever proves more expeditious. Zach vows no one will harm the woman he loves.

BLUE SMOKE AND MURDER is Elizabeth Lowell at her best as she guides her readers into the dark side of the art world where some players will to do anything to obtain famous works or even destroy masterpieces to keep values high. The heroine is tough but wise enough to know she needs a pro on her side; she is also brave, willing to be the bait to trap a killer. Ms. Lowell provides fans with a strong romantic suspense thriller starring a wonderful heroine and the operative who loves her.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted March 29, 2009

First Time in Paperback

Summary

Jill Breck was just doing her job as a river guide when she saved the life of Lane Faroe, son of two of St. Kilda's Consulting's premier operators. But when a string of ominous events—including a mysterious fire that kills her great aunt and a furor in the Western art world raised by a dozen Breck family paintings—culminate in a threat to her life, Jill reluctantly calls in a favor.

Zach Balfour works part-time as a consultant for St. Kilda. His expertise is gathering and analyzing information from unlikely and often dangerous sources. Though he's got the skills to be a highly effective bodyguard, being a bullet catcher isn't his preferred way to spend time.

Protecting Jill will take him into familiar territory—among a strange, savagely competitive bunch of collectors who'll do anything to stay at the top. But Jill is in deeper waters than she's ever known; as she soon discovers, the perils of running wild rivers are tame compared to the hidden dangers in the high-stakes game of art collecting.

From the cozy rooms of the Breck homestead cabin to the cold multi-million dollar galleries of the Western art circuit, Zach and Jill must race against time to unmask a ruthless killer hidden in a blue smoke of money, threats, lies, and death . . .