Joanna FitzPatrick

It's 1924 when Sarah arrives in Camel-by-the-Sea to bury her sister. She'd been shocked to find out that Ada Belle's death had been classified as suicide. This made no sense to Sarah. Her sister was an artist and her work was selling very well and she was excited about an upcoming show of her portraits at a local gallery. Sarah puts her own art career on hold to prove that Ada Belle had not committed suicide. . When she arrives in Carmel, she meets an assortment of people - some who believed Ada Belle had committed suicide and others who were sure that she had not. Sarah spends time in the local artist colony getting to know other female artists and to find out if any of them had additional information about her sister.

Sarah and her sister didn't always get along and at the time of Ada Belle's death they had been estranged for several months. Sarah always felt that her sister looked down on her and didn't have the talent that she did. Even though they didn't have a fantastic relationship, they were still sisters and Sarah vowed to find out the real truth.

I enjoyed the descriptions of the setting in California and learning more about art work and galleries. I liked all of the characters and even the secondary characters added a lot to the story. I also admired Sarah's determination to find out what happened to her sister even thought she should have been working on her own show. The beautiful location wasn't too beautiful under the surface due to the prejudice towards women and immigrants that was very prevalent and made Sarah's search for the truth more difficult.

This is a great book about the love between sisters - even when they are estranged . It's a mystery with small clues throughout that lead to a surprising ending. This author is new to me and I am planning to read some of her earlier books based on how much I enjoyed The Artist Colony.… (altro)

Two sisters who are well known in the art world, but are estranged and continents apart from each other, have very different styles and are both on the bring of big changes in their lives. Sarah gets a cable that her sister has died and she heads to California with lots of questions. How could Ada be gone? Maybe there is a mix up- has to be as no way would Ada take her life as they are claiming.

As soon as Sarah gets to Carmel-by-the-Sea she realizes that things are not as cut and dry as the Marshal is claiming it was. As word gets around that Ada’s sister has arrived, she starts getting bits and pieces of what the other residents think really happened. As Sarah starts to research and dig into things herself to try and get the case opened back up, someone is not happy and odd things start happening to her. She starts to now question who she can trust, and who may have the answers she needs.

I really enjoyed this historical fiction mystery novel and will read more from this author. I learned a lot about that area, as well as how many of the immigrants were treated during this time. Thank you to HFVBT for they invite and the author for a free copy of her book.… (altro)

“Carmel Bay is a rich palette of blues and violets and titanium white hues worthy of a thousand or more brushstrokes” Ada had written to Sarah with hopes of enticing her to leave Paris and join her. In 1924, Sarah finally comes to Carmel-by-the-Sea where a colony of women artists paint plein-air on the sun-bright beach.

Sarah has come too late. Her sister’s body was found on the beach, the inquest over, by the time she arrives. She is befriended by her sister’s companions and peers, pursued by handsome men, and adopted by her sister’s pet dog.

But things are not right. Paintings are missing. The estate is being challenged. And most perplexing, the verdict of suicide does not align with what Sarah is learning about her sister.

Ada had raised Sarah after the early death of their parents, her first art teacher. But Sarah resented Ada’s decisions and she stopped reading her letters. Racked with guilt for not coming sooner, Sarah struggles with her past as she imagines her future.

The setting is painted in gorgeous language, full of color and light and beauty. This piece of California coast had not yet become developed. The Artist Colony is small and intimate.

Sarah is determined to uncover the truth about her sister. As the deadline looms for her return to Paris to organize her art show, she can’t find her sister’s portraits which were to be shipped for her art show. Along the way she encounters the famous and the soon-to-be famous. A community of Japanese are segregated and Sarah is appalled by the racism she sees. The Japanese are divers in the old way, taught to Sirena, once Ada’s assistant who has her own secrets.

The Artist Colony quietly turns into a edge-of-your-seat thriller with a climatic ending. It is a thoroughly enjoyable read.

Joanna FitzPatrick was inspired by her own great-aunt, an Carmel artist whose painting she inherited.

I was given an ARC from Caitlin Hamilton Marketing. My review is fair and unbiased.… (altro)

Hmm, to see my doubts about this book please visit http://anzlitlovers.wordpress.com/2011/05/22/in-pursuit-by-joanna-fitzpatrick/. If you are a fan of Katherine Mansfield, or you are interested in the UK literary scene in the 1920s or you just like biographies of authors, I recommend this one instead rel="nofollow" target="_top">http://anzlitlovers.wordpress.com/2011/07/01/katherine%c2%a0mansfield-the-storyt...… (altro)