Review: O' Artful Death

Debut author Sarah Stewart Taylor, author of O Artful Death, has written some strong pieces as a freelance journalist, many concerning the social issues of women and the poor. Her other occupations as a nanny, a professional dog walker, and a community college professor all color her fiction with anecdotal feeling. She studied Anglo-Irish literature at Trinity College, Dublin, is a member of the Association for Gravestone Studies and lives on a farm in Vermont. These elements add up to a personal history that gives much depth to this academic cozy. Yet, the novel itself has first novel flaws and numerous points of weakness.

Pastoral Vermont's Byzantium, a former artists colony abounding with Victorian mansions and old studios, is the last place Harvard art professor Sweeney St. George thought shed end up spending Christmas. But her best friend, Toby DiMarco, has roped her in with promises of family fun and the lure of a mysterious monument in a cemetery down the hill. As a professor specializing in the art of death, Sweeney has more than just a passing interest in gravestones and she agrees to the trip. The stunning beauty of the woman depicted in the grave marker, and the anomalous nature of the markers theme, has Sweeney at first curious, then almost obsessive about the nature of the sculpture.

Before she and Toby arrive, there is a murder. The community, concurrently plagued by a series of petty thefts, is literally up in arms. Sweeneys arrival stirs things up even more. She has a guarded nature and takes an instant dislike and distrust to almost everyone she meets. A rumor of murder involving the girl in the monument and the recent murder of a descendent spur Sweeney into digging in the colonys past and present. With a glut of eccentrics marooned for the winter, Sweeney has no shortage of suspects.

With the help of a Byzantium historian , some of her many questions concerning the fate of Mary Elizabeth Denholm are answered. The farm girl was employed as a model by one of the colony's avaricious artists, coincidentally, Tobys ancestor. Sweeney's snooping into the mysterious death of Mary and her need to find out the identity of sculptor of her marble tomb, becomes almost neurotic. She decides she needs a break from Marys grave. During a rare unguarded moment, Sweeney explains a personal history filled with loss to family friend, Ian Ball. Her drunken conversation with the Englishman, also visiting for Christmas, provides some of the best dialogue in the book and the most natural interaction. As she explains the suicide of her artist father and the terrorist related death of her fiancé just over a year before, the reader finally gains insight into the circumspection of the protagonist.

The novel gains speed when another local is murdered. The bevy of underdeveloped characters move about like the red herrings they are as Sweeney, herself, becomes a target. As the gravestones themselves begin to reveal the hidden past and the lost pages of diaries tell tales of family secrets, Sweeney draws closer to the killer. In a denouement that wraps things up just a little too nicely, Sweeney unmasks a murderer, a blackmailer and a thief. And puts herself in mortal danger.

Taylors vast knowledge of funerary art provides an unusual premise for this cozy mystery. Hopefully, with experience, Taylor may well overcome her Nancy Drew plot layout. Sweeney stumbles into trouble and encounters the dangerous foibles reminiscent of the famous female sleuth. And, like Drew, Taylors lead is strong, intelligent, resourceful and bold. But, she doesnt posses Drews earnestness, helpful nature or her need for justice. Her desire to solve the case comes across as an almost childlike need to prove herself right to the world. By softening the character and allowing her lead more empathy with those around her, Taylor will be well on her way to building a compelling series.

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Jennifer Jordan

Book Review: O' Artful Death