Good Reads / Community Library Notes
Still Lives
Maria Hummel
Review by Priscilla Comen
Still Lives
Maria Hummel
Review by Priscilla Comen
Still Lives, by Maria Hummel, is the story of an artist Kim Lord. She is about to have an exhibit of her art work at an important gallery. This is also about Maggie, the editor and Greg Shaw, new galleryist, who want the Rocque Museum to succeed. But Kim Lord has not shown up for her press appearance. Lord’s paintings are detailed descriptions of murdered women. The exhibit takes place in the intersection of two streets in West L.A. with street signs and underpasses of freeways. It is a clever setting for a show.
Yegina, Maggie’s friend at the museum, lends her a ravishing outfit for the opening. Janis Rocque (J. Ro) is the monarch of the museum, rich, beloved, and feared at the same time. Portraits of eleven women, murdered in California, with the faces of Kim Lord superimposed are the theme of the show. Maggie finds them difficult to look at.
The next day, Kevin, the reporter, takes her for a drink and then to Aimee Simple McPherson’s temple on Sunset Blvd. He tells her the story of that woman’s disappearance. He also tells her about clues he saw in Kim Lord’s last painting, clues that might point to her captor. Maggie’s ex-boyfriend, Greg, is a person of interest. He had dumped Maggie and is now with Kim. Boyfriends are the likeliest suspects, Maggie knows. Author Hummel sets this story into Los Angeles and describes that city in full detail, from the freeway 101 to Griffith Park to Grauman’s Chinese Theater and the movie stars’ hand prints in cement. .
At a riding party at Griffith Park, Greg gives Maggie a flash drive with Kim’s paintings on it. What should she do with it? Greg is in jail; Kevin, the journalist wants to see Maggie. Kim has donated the proceeds from her show to the Rocque Museum. Have the police missed this fact? What does it mean? A private investigator tells Maggie that Kim is pregnant. Is it with Greg’s baby? Maggie assumes it is. Author Hummel plants clue after clue.
A month later, we visit Evie in the carpentry room. She makes crates and ships paintings out to other galleries. Will Kim Lord re-appear? Where has she been? Does Maggie solve the mystery on her own or with another person’s help? Find this intriguing look at the art world, the gallery world, and at Los Angeles on the new fiction shelf of your Mendocino Community Library.
Yegina, Maggie’s friend at the museum, lends her a ravishing outfit for the opening. Janis Rocque (J. Ro) is the monarch of the museum, rich, beloved, and feared at the same time. Portraits of eleven women, murdered in California, with the faces of Kim Lord superimposed are the theme of the show. Maggie finds them difficult to look at.
The next day, Kevin, the reporter, takes her for a drink and then to Aimee Simple McPherson’s temple on Sunset Blvd. He tells her the story of that woman’s disappearance. He also tells her about clues he saw in Kim Lord’s last painting, clues that might point to her captor. Maggie’s ex-boyfriend, Greg, is a person of interest. He had dumped Maggie and is now with Kim. Boyfriends are the likeliest suspects, Maggie knows. Author Hummel sets this story into Los Angeles and describes that city in full detail, from the freeway 101 to Griffith Park to Grauman’s Chinese Theater and the movie stars’ hand prints in cement. .
At a riding party at Griffith Park, Greg gives Maggie a flash drive with Kim’s paintings on it. What should she do with it? Greg is in jail; Kevin, the journalist wants to see Maggie. Kim has donated the proceeds from her show to the Rocque Museum. Have the police missed this fact? What does it mean? A private investigator tells Maggie that Kim is pregnant. Is it with Greg’s baby? Maggie assumes it is. Author Hummel plants clue after clue.
A month later, we visit Evie in the carpentry room. She makes crates and ships paintings out to other galleries. Will Kim Lord re-appear? Where has she been? Does Maggie solve the mystery on her own or with another person’s help? Find this intriguing look at the art world, the gallery world, and at Los Angeles on the new fiction shelf of your Mendocino Community Library.