Gail Langer KarwoskiRecensioni

I can now write a review because it was an ebook. I was new to Librarything and didn't realize I had clicked a request for an ebook.

I love this book! It's like playing Clue but in a book form with my favorite items of art and horses! The author brings the characters to life with vivid descriptions and her wordplay is phenomenal!

A Brush with Murder is Gail Langer Karwoski's first book in The Watercolor Mystery series. Friends Jane, Grace and Donna have travelled to the Horses and Gardens Retreat in South Carolina to participate in a painting retreat "en plein air'. After arriving, they proceed to go for a walk and come across a horse that is dead in a reflecting pool. As other incidents occur to people associated with the retreat, the three friends become interested in trying to figure out why the incidents are happening and who is involved.
The author has done a good job of with the creation of her characters and storyline. As this is set at a retreat where people from different areas are attending, it is not necessary to provide a complete backstory for all involved but the author has given enough information on each character's history to enable the reader to understand the connections within the storyline. As the story unfolds and more incidents occur, the author provides twists that lead the reader down a pathway of certain discovery just to find yet another twist which ultimately leads to a surprising but well written final revelation that is based on some of the foundational motives of all-time great mysteries.
I received a free copy of this book from LibraryThing and Black Rose Writing and am leaving this review voluntarily.

I received this book to review for LibraryThing.
Three friends arrive at a hotel called "Gardens and Horses" to attend master classes with a well known artist. The hotel also has a successful stable for race horses about which I knew nothing until I read this book. The friends decide to go for a walk before the classes start only to have the shocking experience of finding a dead horse in a pool.This is just the beginning and attempted murder and murder follow which of course are solved by the police with the assistance of the 3 friends. I enjoyed the unusual setting for a mystery and the advice about painting. I think it was a good first book for this author and I look forward to her next one.½

Jane and her friends are looking forward to their watercolor classes at the Gardens and Horses Resort. When they find a dead horse in a pool, the week turns into one of mystery and murder. Jane's notes help solve the murder in the end. I enjoyed the descriptions of the gardens and the watercolor techniques. Although interesting, I thought the discussion of the bonsai collection was a little distracting. I look forward to the next book in the series.

A Brush with Murder: A Watercolor Mystery is the tale of three (then four) middle-aged friends who embark on a painting retreat at a picturesque resort. What starts out as a week of relaxation and creativity quickly becomes sinister, when the women discover a dead horse in a reflecting pool.

Other deaths follow and everyone at the retreat is suspect. Jane Roland and her friends are determined to discover "Who done it?" Will they be able to find the killer before another painter perishes?

The first in a series of cozy mysteries featuring Jane and her Georgian friends, this book is an easy read on a warm summer's day.½

A Brush with Murder by Gail Langer Karwoski has three women from Georgia heading to a painting retreat at the luxurious Gardens and Horses Resort. After checking in, the ladies decide to explore the grounds. They look in the reflecting pool to see a dead thoroughbred. Their plein air watercolor retreat begins the next day. One of the men from the stables agrees to give them a tour at the end of the day. The ladies arrive at the stables to find the man dead in a horse trough. Jane Roland believes the two cases are connected. She takes the class roster and begins keeping detailed notes about each person. When one of their fellow classmates turns up missing and is later found in the lake, Jane feels her observations could help catch the culprit. A Brush with Murder is the debut of A Watercolor Mysteries. The author provides a Class List at the beginning of the book (a list of all the characters). There are a number of characters so it can be difficult to keep them all straight. The author is a detailed descriptive writer. She likes to tell you what each person looks like (hair coloring, demeaner, clothing) as well as descriptions of the gardens, artwork, food, etc. This type of detail does slow down the pacing of the story. The book moves at a leisurely pace as the characters enjoy the watercolor class, tour the grounds, eat their meals, and socialize. The mystery is not at the forefront of the story. I wish it had been more prominent (with Jane searching for clues). The death of the horse was disturbing, and it happened in the first chapter. The details gave Jane and her friends nightmares as well as me. There are several suspects, but one individual stands out. I struggled to finish A Brush with Murder. The pacing is so slow plus (I am sorry) it was boring. There was no action or lively activity. I did find some details to be off (when you find yourself saying that they never mentioned this or when did this happen you know something is off or left out). A Brush with Murder is more cozy than mystery. I liked that the main characters were older (in their 60s). It is nice that they are close friends, so they know each other’s quirks and habits. One of my favorite characters was Maggie, a fifteen-year-old with a domineering grandmother. Maggie is a talented artist who loves horses. A Brush with Murder is a lighthearted tale with plein air painting, gorgeous gardens, a retreat romance, suspicious passings, health happenings, essential notes, and a curious watercolorist.

It's a short road trip from Georgia to the Gardens and Horses Retreat Center in South Carolina. Jane Roland, Donna Norton, and Grace Tanner are excited for their week away to attend "en plein air" (painting outdoors) watercolor workshop with the renowned artist Alexander Robert Treville. Little did the women realize the stories they would have to share with their Tuesday painting group when they returned home. The eclectic group of painters in the workshop is realistic and I especially enjoyed the camaraderie of the group from Atkinsville.

This title is Gail Langer Karwoski's debut for writing a cozy mystery albeit not her writing debut. The author’s "Dedication" is the reader’s first hint of the author’s personal knowledge of painting with watercolors followed by appreciation within "Acknowledgements." "About the Author" also shares her enjoyment of painting with watercolors. I did sense authenticity in descriptions of the different painting sessions including techniques, different approaches used by the class participants, and instructor critiques. I particularly enjoyed the comparison between the details in a book and the details in a painting.

Readers that are familiar with horse racing will be better able to comment but strictly as an animal lover I found the opening cause for a police investigation difficult to read. From that moment forward I couldn’t decide if the author was using the cozy as a platform to convey personal feelings about horse racing through her characters. I remain undecided.

Reviewer’s Note: Common expressions of swear words although minimal are used in dialogue and accordingly this title is unable to be designated a "clean cozy."

I was lucky to receive an Advance Reader’s Edition of this title as an Early Reviewer from Library Thing. The opinions expressed in the review are my own.

A Brush with Murder - A Watercolour Mystery is author Gail Langer Karwoski’s first attempt at a writing a cozy mystery. To my mind she did not succeed. There were a number of problems, including: - the clue to who the murderer is was not successfully hidden in a school of red herrings, but stood out very clearly - the cast of characters were not particularly quirky, rather there were too many stereotypes, including even the most obviously difficult characters having their caring and giving sides - It wasn’t clear if the author intended to have one main protagonist, Jane, or if her three/four friends were also intended as key protagonists, to say nothing of the dog, who could also be considered a key character (with apologies to JK Jerome and Connie Willis) - the pace was so slow that I almost stopped reading - in fact I really only finished it because I felt obliged to as an Early Reviewer, although it did feel like a much longer read than indicated by the word count. I did find the technical information about painting with watercolours interesting - perhaps indicative that the plot and the characters were not well drawn. Overall it was all rather underwhelming.

A BRUSH WITH MURDER by Gail Langer Karwoski is a clever title for this cosy mystery. The protagonists are water color artists attending a week-long art retreat where a real-life murder mystery occurs.

The author drew pastoral settings with words which were as colorful as her artists created their water-color paintings. The language is clean. The story line has references to Agatha Christie’s stories on occasion - but has its own cosy mystery to solve. An interesting read.

A good mystery. There were plenty of suspects who were all connected in some way, so it was hard to figure out the murderer. First the women found a dead horse, then a man is attacked and left for dead and then one of painters is found dead. Who did it? Jane and her friends are expecting a quiet painting retreat at a posh hotel. What they get is a dead horse, an attempted murder and a murder. They are learning about good techniques for painting, but Jane is focusing on finding a killer. Will they find the killer before they all go home? Jane can't stand to have questions left unanswered.

A Brush with Murder by Gail Langer Karwoski was entertaining from start to finish. The art retreat roster was very helpful to keep the characters straight. Although it was a murder mystery, it had a light, airy feeling because of the beautiful setting and the descriptions of the ongoing art classes. Jane, Donna, Grace and Pam were a likeable group. It was a delightful book and I look forward to her other books.

Jane Roland and her painter friends are looking forward to their watercolor retreat at the picturesque Gardens and Horses Resort, especially the opportunity for plein air painting. At first all goes as planned – the grounds are beautiful, the painting classes are informative, the food is delicious, and the beds are very comfortable. Things quickly change when the women discover a dead thoroughbred in the reflecting pool and the next day the stableman is attacked. When murder soon follows, Jane does her best to help the police solve the crimes. But will they be solved before Jane has to return home?

“A Brush with Murder” is the nicely done first book in Gail Langer Karwoski’s The Watercolor Mysteries cozy mystery series. I can’t draw a straight line even with a ruler but I still loved the description of the watercolor retreat, the resort, and the paintings done by the retreaters. Jane and her friends are well done - each with their own little quirks, especially Donna who is one of the most memorable characters in the book. Karwoski is a good descriptive writer – she paints with words the way that Jane and friends paint with watercolors – and I could feel the softness of the beds, see the paintings, and taste the food while reading this book. While the mystery was as enjoyable as the rest of the book, I am taking one star off for the way the killer was revealed – after investing so much time in reading the book, I wanted more and was disappointed at the route the author took. Other than that, I really enjoyed the book and look forward to reading more books in the series.

I like cozy mysteries, especially when the world is feeling more prickly than usual. This fit the bill. I also enjoyed the depiction of female friendship and the idea of artists as keen observers.

murder, murder-investigation, law-enforcement, resort-hotel, family, friendship, amateur-sleuth, artist, attempted-murder****

Great story, great characters, fine mystery. But this retired RN was grinding teeth at most of the medical info. I'm sure that it was all fine for those not in the business.
The main characters are a small group of longtime friends who are there for the lessons, live a couple of hours away, and share an interest in watercolor painting. The Gardens and Horses Resort is a very high-end facility complete with stables and a semi-resident artist who holds retreats with classes in watercolor painting. An important part of the classes is instructing the artists to really pay attention to what they're seeing in an in-depth manner and remember it all. Despite the beautiful setting, things go badly in short order, including two ladies who wind up in hospital due to chronic health conditions. The first death was a racing thoroughbred horse, but it didn't stop there. The mystery is well done, and both the plot twists and red herrings are creative.
I requested and received a free e-book copy from Black Rose Writing via NetGalley. Thank you!

It is the story Lewis and Clark expedition to find a route across the contentment. It is based on the journals of the explorers. It is a third person story told from the dog’s perspective.

This is a lovely rhyming story about giving thanks for the gifts trees provide on the occasion of Tu B’Shevat, Jewish Arbor Day.

Reading Level: Primary-Intermediate
Genre: Nonfiction - Informational

Summary: This book is about what happened in Hawaii on April 1st, 1946. A group of school children on a field trip were visiting the beach when they were fascinated with the fact that the ocean was drawing back and it wasn’t until it was too late that they realized it was because of a massive wave heading towards them. This book talks about that day and other tsunami tragedies and why scientists decided to study them more to inform people of the signs of a tsunami about to happen.

Since I've been reading a lot of grown-up books on the 1906 earthquake over this past year, I decided to pick up this middle grade book on the subject so that my son could learn my about it. I read it first. Karwoski uses the backdrop of the earthquake to educate readers about the historical event and more--the protagonist, Jacob, is Jewish and mourning the loss of his mother a few months before, and wrestles with guilt over eating non-kosher food after the quake; he saves a Chinese boy and learns about the terrible ways that other people treat the Chinese; and the solution to the story isn't all neat and tidy, as he's left wondering in limbo for an extended period of time as he worries about if his family survived.

I had two quibbles with the story. The first is that the dog he brings home the night before is the most active character in the whole book; the mutt should have been named Plot Point. He's the one who saves Jacob from being buried in the quake, he's the one who saves San, he reunites the family. The dog initiates every major event. The other issue is the sanitized way that looting was handled. In two cases, business owners encouraged people to loot their stores because the army was going to dynamite them, anyway. I'm sure there were some cases like that, but really? I think it would have been okay for Jacob to salvage some food under the circumstances, "permission" or not.

In all, though, a good action-filled historical fiction book for kids, and one I'll pass along to my son.

This book seems targeted for 6th through 9th grade level kids. For those, it does a very good job explaining minerals when they are in crystal form, and thee joy of rock collectiong.

There are some minor technical details not quite correct. Most quartz does not form from veins but the visible crystals usually do. Quartz does grow over time but the growth ceases when growing conditions cease, usually long before the crystal is close to the earth's surface and nearly always when it is on the surface. But those details are not important to the theme of the book.

I recommend the book for those kids who might be interested in science or collecting things outdoors.

Twelve year old Sam Collier has just become page and apprentice to a famous explorer and adventure, John Smith. They’re headed on a voyage from England to the new world of North America. What adventures will Sam encounter in the new land?

4th grade read-aloud 2007; lengthy but kids loved it.

I enjoyed this historic piece about a boy that had to indure a tradgedy and all the things he encountered and how he delt with it. I wonder what it was like to live back then without cell phones?

(4.3)