Death in the Abstract

March 27, 2017
In Barnes’s uneven sequel to 2016’s The Fine Art of Murder, retired police chief and passionate painter Katherine Sullivan—who left Edina, Minn., for an artists’ colony in Taos, N.Mex.—again rushes back to Edina to help someone she cares about. Ex-cop and widower Nathan Walker, a Denzel Washington look-alike who owns a security firm, has gone missing. (Katie’s late husband, a slain cop, took on Nathan as a partner when other white cops gave him the cold shoulder.) Not trusting her successor, dour Chief Bostwick, to find Nathan, Katie eagerly un-retires and rises to the challenge. Meanwhile, a local woman’s murder may be tied to Nathan’s disappearance. Old enough to delight in the rare day when nothing hurts or aches, alive enough to yearn for more than Nathan’s friendship, devoted to her daughter and grandkids yet wanting her own life, Katie is a welcome addition to the cozy genre. On the other hand, too many quirky characters and subplots dilute the suspense. And Taos, enticingly described, is a tease.