The Goldenacre
Philip Miller
ISBN: 9781641294270
Published: June 2022
Pricing
Hardcover $26.00
eBook $14.99
More books by Philip Miller
Philip Miller
Description
A bitter journalist and troubled art expert risk their lives to find the connection between a legendary painting and a series of rash murders in this “riveting, brutal journey into the high-stakes world of legacy art and inherited wealth” (Denise Mina, author of Conviction).
Thomas Tallis, inspector of pro...
A bitter journalist and troubled art expert risk their lives to find the connection between a legendary painting and a series of rash murders in this “riveting, brutal journey into the high-stakes world of legacy art and inherited wealth” (Denise Mina, author of Conviction).
Thomas Tallis, inspector of provenance, has just arrived in Edinburgh, Scotland, to authenticate The Goldenacre, a masterpiece by iconic Scottish architect and painter Charles Rennie Mackintosh. Still dealing with a miserable divorce and the fallout from a disastrous job in London, Tallis is eager to sign off on the painting and leave. It should be simple, as the painting has been owned by one noble family since the ’20s. But then a horrifying parcel arrives on Tallis’s desk, and the threatening message is clear: someone doesn’t want him inspecting the painting. Now that Tallis sees lives are in danger, he has no choice but to stay until the investigation is complete.
Meanwhile, gruesome murders are plaguing Edinburgh. First, a Scottish painter of great renown. Next, an Edinburgh City Counsellor. Battle-hardened newspaper reporter Shona Sandison is on the case, even as her beloved industry shrinks around her. Shona doesn’t care who she steps on to get the best story, and she soon uncovers a link between The Goldenacre and the murders. As Tallis’s personal crises reach a fever pitch, Shona struggles to enlist his help in understanding how the painting is mixed up in all this violence before either one of them becomes the next victim.
Pensive, lush, and tragic, The Goldenacre is a heartbroken love letter to Edinburgh, and an unpredictable, gorgeously plotted mystery to savor.
Winner of the Shamus Award for Best First P.I. Novel
Media
“The Goldenacre features a dense cast of vivid characters, not least Tallis, a tortured pilgrim worthy of a Graham Greene tale. The book—which explores through prose the interplay between light and darkness in the physical and moral worlds—is an ambitious and wonderfully realized work.”
–Tom Nolan, The Wall Street Journal
“This terrific art mystery is as twisty and dark (even a wee bit gruesome in places) as the ‘crooked medieval lanes’ and the ‘brooding bulk’ of St. Giles’ Cathedral in Edinburgh, where this exceptional novel is set.”
–Carole E. Barrowman, Star Tribune
“One of a kind and loaded with original plotting.”
–Toronto Star
“A literary masterpiece. So many layers to peel back in this mystery.”
–Mystery & Suspense
“A literary thriller in the tradition of The Goldfinch or All the Light We Cannot See, but better! In The Goldenacre, the suspense is real, the stakes are high, and the mystery actually gets resolved . . . [An] enjoyable thriller that is part cerebral and part noir.”
–Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine
“A moving meditation on beauty, loss, and the bonds of family. John le Carré would have sympathized with its doomed hero, art expert Thomas Tallis, and the noble futility of his effort.”
–Air Mail
“It is the magic way oddly juxtaposed words manage to convey the essence of a scene, the feelings of a character, or the ugliness of an act, more vividly than any dictionary-precise language, that makes The Goldenacre a thoroughly worthwhile read.”
–Portland Book Review
“Unputdownable.”