Karen Hudgins

Murder, Mayhem and Monet Karen Hudgins

Diane Phipps, P. I., bounds into investigative action when Arabella Lauren, a noted art restorer in historic Manitou Springs, is found strangled. Slumped over a Claude Monet masterpiece, had she intentionally left a clue? Or had she merely grabbed a paint tube during her struggle with the murderer? Moreover, was Diane solving a homicide where Arabella was targeted for death, or had she died because of a bungled grand theft?

Diane searches for answers while in unfamiliar mountain country. Motives are buried deeply. Although Arabella was immersed in saving beautiful art, all was not pretty. But things had looked up when she'd met James, the gallerist. Yet, Arabella's brother Leo was dismayed over their new friendship. His girlfriend Willow, whose dad owns the Monet, resents his excessive time with a farrier and also the private collection curator.

When Arabella's journal falls into Diane's hands, some of her sleuthing conclusions are confirmed...but not all. Diane boldly wears the murder weapon, a silk scarf, to the Front Range Art Society Gala to shake up a possible prime suspect. Answers rise, except what's this about a secret daughter? Diane intrepidly sifts through all this and more to find out Whodunit and Why?