Brief Mention: Light Art-History Mysteries from Helen A. Harrison

Sag Harbor's noted art historian and museum director, Helen A. Harrison, has written a trio of artist mysteries that she called The Corpse Trilogy. Two of them, AN EXQUISITE CORPSE and AN ACCIDENTAL CORPSE, reach easy access this summer thanks to the Poisoned Pen Press imprint of Sourcebooks, which released the first book on July 7 and offers the second on August 4.

These are light, short-chapter mysteries, all plot with some wild characters (but no particular character growth). Imagine a Surrealist corpse, for instance, clearly intended to implicate the artists in the circle featuring André Breton and acclaimed Cuban painter Wilfredo Lam in Greenwich Village in the 1940s. If that's boggling your imagination and you'd love to follow dialogue among the surrealist artists, pick up a copy of the nicely packaged pocket-size AN EXQUISITE CORPSE.

Despite the startling habits of the artists (and yes, Peggy Guggenheim has a role!), it's the police detectives, Juanita Diaz and Brian Fitzgerald, who take over the story and become lead characters in the next book -- AN ACCIDENTAL CORPSE begins with Jackson Pollock driving erratically on Long Island (where the author is the director of the Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center in East Hampton) and races along with the detectives, now married with a son.

The design of these paperbacks is perfect for summer reading in a hammock or deck chair. Have fun—you may feel inspired to look up and refresh your memory of the artists, their art, and their very provocative stories. I did!

PS:  Looking for more mystery reviews, from cozy to very dark? Browse the Kingdom Books mysteries review blog here.