Book Review: Death in a Pale Hue by Susan Van Kirk (Art Center Mysteries #1)

Stars: 3 out of 5

Pros: Characters; suspenseful climax

Cons: Details not obvious, but killer was

The Bottom Line:

Body in basement

The characters are great here

But weak overall

Unfortunately, This Was a Pale Debut

I know you aren’t supposed to judge a book by its cover, but sometimes, they really do catch my eye.  That was the case with Death in a Pale Hue, the first Art Center Mystery from Susan Van Kirk.  The colors and paint brushes caught my eye, and I loved the idea of an art center at the heart of a cozy mystery.  Sadly, it wasn’t as good as I hoped it would be.

Jill Madison has moved home to Apple Grove to run the community art center in town The center is being named after her late month, so she’s throwing herself into the project, hoping to impress the board, some of whom don’t think she has enough experience at thirty to oversee the entire thing.  Which means Jill is trying to be extremely careful to make sure everything is ready for the opening of the center.

So a break in during the night is the last thing Jill wants.  Worse yet, one of her mother’s sculptures, which has meaning to Jill, appears to be the only thing stolen.  Then the crew hired to renovate the building finds a skeleton buried in the basement.  When Jill figures out she has a connection to the bones, she attempts decides to help figure out what really happened.  Will she be putting her job in jeopardy?

My first issue with the book is that it still needed another edit.  I really had a hard time getting lost in the story since the details were either missing or contradicted themselves later on.  The opening, which I loved, was contradicted by the rest of the book, for example.  I kept trying to figure out details of the art center, too.  Things like that.  It might be minor to most people, but it kept me from fully enjoying the book, and a few more details sprinkled into the book would have fixed the problem.

I could have lived with that if the plot were stronger.  Unfortunately, the pacing was uneven, and I figured things out early.  I rarely figure things out early despite the number of mysteries I read.  Sometimes I feel proud of myself when I pick up on something, but this wasn’t one of those cases.

The fact that I figured out the killer didn’t keep me from getting caught up in the climax.  It was extremely suspenseful, and I had a very hard time putting the book down when I got there.

Additionally, I loved the characters.  Jill has family and good friends in town, and I could feel the love in those relationships.

I would enjoy spending more time with the characters, but I’m hesitant to pick up another book in the series.  A good edit would have made Death in a Pale Hue work better for me.