Diane Rapp

Murder for Glacier Blue: a High Seas Mystery Diane Rapp

Publisher Marketing: Painted in 1907, "Glacier Blue" is an oil painting recently appraised at 2 million pounds. Reginald C. Pierpont, the artist who created the stunning masterpiece, studied with the Impressionists in Europe and bold visionaries in the Americas. The sole heir to a family fortune, Reggie used his vast holdings and leisure time to experiment with new techniques and daring ideas to create his art. Although the masterpiece failed to turn heads during his own time period, Reggie's secret method triggers larcenous schemes among modern crooks. Genuine Fakes, an auction company that sells "authorized copies" of famous paintings, arranges to hold six charity auctions of fakes during a voyage to Alaska. Million-dollar originals will be displayed next to the Genuine Fakes during each auction-six opportunities for international thieves to steal a valuable piece of art. The president of Constellation Cruise Lines, Emily Schultz suddenly needs her new crack security team to guard the paintings. When one of the fakes gets stolen from the buyer's cabin, a discrete search for the missing canvas begins. The stakes rise when a body is found next to the missing fake, and the investigation suddenly takes a deadly turn. The investigators learn more about "Glacier Blue" and realize it's no ordinary work of art. The painting's special secret already provoked one murder, and it gets easier to kill again. Emily begs Kayla and Steven to work for a few days before their wedding on Glacier Bay. They expected a stress-free cruise up the Inside Passage of Alaska, filled with glaciers, wildlife, and stunning scenery, but an art heist and murder might interrupt their romantic plans. To ramp up stress levels, Steven's ex-wife, Cynthia, shows up for the cruise on the arm of Steven's school chum-and Kayla feels hate-at-first-sight. The young couple must entertain future in-laws while trying to outsmart murderous outlaws. As the ship navigates through icy waters, truth lies hidden from plain view, like the treacherous underwater portions of dangerous icebergs. Greed, jealousy, and envy generate potent motives for murder. Contributor Bio:  Rapp, Diane Diane Rapp became an entrepreneur when she started her own dog grooming salon in Santa Barbara, California. She spent the next thirty years as a small business owner; she sold real estate, started an office supply/copy center, and performed free-lance advertising design. During all those years Diane wrote stories as a cure for insomnia. She wrote short stories about dogs for a local German Shepherd Dog Club newsletter, and then expanded to full length novels. After Diane and her daughter Laura co-authored a travel guidebook entitled Cruising the Eastern Caribbean (four editions were published by Hunter Publishing) Laura gave Diane the idea of writing a mystery set on cruise ships in the Caribbean. Murder Caribbean-Style and Murder on a Ghost Ship are the first two novels of a High Seas Mystery series. The third novel Murder for Glacier Blue features a wedding cruise to Alaska. It's scheduled for release in 2013. Howl of the Wolf was the first book in Diane's Heirs to the Throne science fiction series. It introduced the planet Drako, telepathic wolves, and the crew of the space ship that took sanctuary on a planet that banned technology. In the second book, The Havenshire Resistance, Krystal's teenage daughters must learn to use inherited powers and join an army of samurai women, telepathic wolves, and commoners to save the kingdom from the evil plans of Jarrack. Dragon Defense is the third novel in the series. Donovan's group must train teenagers and encourage wild dragons to defend Drako from destruction by the Institute. Visit Diane's website (quicksilvernovels.com) to learn more about the characters in her books. You may also find Diane's posts at the QuickSilver Novels Facebook page or follow her on Twitter @DianeRapp.