Portrait of a Gossip

Miss Henry Mystery #1

by Melanie Jackson

Juliet Henry, water-color artist and retired agent of the NSA, wouldn't stack up her knowledge of the human heart against the great romantic poets, but she knows a thing or two about human avarice and stupidity. It comes as no great surprise when the small artists' colony of Bartholomew's Woods ends up with a dead resident. Harvey Allen was a professional gossip, hated the length and breadth of the state for his scandal-mongering in the press, and it seemed that one of Juliet's talented but idiosyncratic neighbors had finally had enough of his pernicious tale-bearing and decided to paint him out of the picture. Juliet may sympathize, but she also knows that once a person resorts to murder to hide a secret, chances are good that they may choose to kill again. Can she find the murderer before the killer paints the town red?

Move over Miss Marple, there's a new slueth in town. If you are a fan of Ngaio Marsh or Agatha Christie you are going to love Juliet Henry and the residents of Bartholomew's Woods.

Genres: Mystery, Cozy Mystery, Amazon, Cozy

119 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 23, 2012

About the author

Melanie, an award-winning author of more than fifty novels, stories and poems lives with her writer husband in the California Gold Country with their cat (also a writer who has a page on myspace) and their dog (who is hoping to get a page on facebook as soon as she masters typing). Melanie likes gardening but hates the deer who also like her garden, and she volunteers at a local animal shelter.

Reviews

[Cheryl]

First time reading this series but I have read other by Melanie Jackson. I enjoyed this series. The main character is Juliet and she is part of an artist colony. For many years she had worked in some think tank or something similar and when she retired she came to her second love of art and she ends up finding the body of one of the group. Everyone knows it must be one of them a it is a closed community, but who did it. Keeps you going until the end. Looking forward to reading the next in the series.

[a.]

This is just horrible. I am marking it Dnf. It's about a snotty, know it all main character who is going to help a poor bumbling police officer solve a crime that's been committed in the artist colony she lives in. And it's ridiculous and vapid. I can't do it. I love a good cozy and this is not one. It's just so typical and I have read some really great mysteries recently and this one is seriously not standing up to the test.

[Joseph J Montana]

Enjoyable Cozy Mystery

A retired NSA analyst takes up painting and moves to an artist colony. As luck would have it, the colony's disliked, obnoxious writer is murdered. The sheriff enlists the analyst's help to solve the case.

[Peter Tremblay]

Mysterious Mystery

A murder at an artists community makes this story unique, and the heroine, and older woman made it wonderful. The quirky characters, the word pictures, the plot, the mystery were all well developed. Very enjoyable.

[Sharon Thomas]

Good book

All the people in the wood are artist of some sort one of them is killed and everyone is a suspect. Surprise ending

[Carolyn]

Another Great Start to Wonderful Series

I love anything Melanie Jackson writes. She writes great characters and scenarios. I am not a visual person but I "see" her characters, settings and situations.
A great new series with wonderful interactions between the lead characters.

[Virginia Aikens]

Interesting Addition

I've read Chloe Boston and some of Ms. Jackson's other series, and I've enjoyed them all, so I thought I'd start on this one. I am happy that I did. Just as convince and clever as her other work, but characters and setting very different from other mysteries I've read. Jackson does a good job of making rather unlikable people into interesting and even sympathetic characters, and the artist community was an intriguing setting. I also liked that she didn't feel the need to clog the story with a lot of extra subplots involving a love interest just because a reader might expect it of her. Good for a quick read.

[Deanna Lynn Sletten]

There is murder in the little artist village and ex-NSA agent turned painter Juliet Henry is trying to unravel the mystery overtaking their little community of artists. Could one of the artists in their village really be a murderer?

This is another wonderfully written novel by Melanie Jackson. I just love her writing style and the characters are so real they just jump off the pages. I adored the character of Juliet Henry - she is both intelligent and humorous. If you enjoy a good mystery full of colorful characters, you will enjoy this novel. Melanie Jackson is a literary treasure!

[Roberta]

I enjoyed this mystery set in an artists' colony of St. Bartholomew's Woods. Juliet Henry is a water-color artist who finds her neighbor, Harvey Allen, dead and presumably murdered. During her investigation of his death, she interviews the artists in St. Bartholomew's Woods and acquires Harvey's cat, Marley, in the process.
This was originally an e-book.

[Carol]

Nicely done cozy.

[Kaye]

2.5**

[Linda Cole]

Good brain teaser

This book had interesting characters and a strong plot. It was focused on who did the crime and the motive

[Deborah Whipp]

A little bit slow at times, but a an enjoyable enough mystery with an interesting setting and likeable characters.

[Rebecca]

Discovered a wonderful new series

[Marisa]

Amazon - 27/04/2012