The Fine Art of Lying

by Alexandra Andrews, Thérèse Plummer (Narrator)

10 hours, 4 minutes

“Alexandra Andrews is monied Manhattan’s very own Agatha Christie.”—Ada Calhoun

From the critically acclaimed author of Who is Maud Dixon? comes a riveting new novel about a young wife and mother in a world of wealth and privilege, whose rash mistake sets off a domino effect of murder and betrayal.

In the beginning, there was art.

It was Clare Bast’s love of art that saved her from a bleak, predictable life in upstate New York, and drew her to the cultured world of Manhattan’s Upper East Side where she met Jed, her doting, affluent husband.

Despite her best efforts—including a half-finished PhD, abandoned when her daughter Sadie was born—Clare secretly can’t help but feel like an imposter in Jed’s one-percent, Park-Avenue life. 

When the well-connected wife of Jed’s new boss introduces her to influential friends, a curator here, a gallerist there, an aficionado abroad, Clare feels an essential part of herself coming alive again. And when she discovers that an important work painted by the subject of her unfinished dissertation is hanging in the brownstone of a seductively attractive dealer, she believes fate is leading her where she belongs . . . until she finds herself at the scene of a gruesome murder and a stolen masterpiece. Caught in the perfectly wrong place at the perfectly wrong time, every clue the investigation uncovers points back to her.

Suddenly, Clare is trapped inside a dark and treacherous art world filled with unscrupulous dealers and international criminals. What exactly, has she gotten herself into . . . and how is she going to get herself, and her family, out? 

Genres: Mystery, Thriller, Fiction, New York, Audiobook, Mystery Thriller, Contemporary

Audiobook

Expected publication June 9, 2026

About the author

I'm a journalist-turned-copywriter-turned-novelist, with a brief stint as a graphic designer somewhere in there. I've lived in New York City for my entire life, except for the year and a half I spent in Paris writing Who Is Maud Dixon? I now live in Brooklyn with my husband and two children and am (theoretically) working on my second novel.

Reviews

[Unapologetically Bookish · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had kind of a hard time with this one.
It’s interesting, on the whole, but I felt like it fell a little flat.

The whole premise of Clare, this girl who grew up as a “nobody” and then somehow found herself with this great guy Jed, who is part of NYCs elite. And her being thrusted into this world of money and power, being someone she could have never imagined becoming, and how one small encounter causes her entire life to turn upside down. And force Clare to look at everything and ask herself 2”what it is she truly wants in her life.

I thought the parts with Gabriel and Clare were great. The chemistry was there, with this underlying “danger” element. I loved their passion for art, and how that increased their attraction to each other. I don’t think I’ve ever routed for someone to cheat on their husband before hahaha.

Jed isn’t a bad guy, he actually seems nice and like someone who wouldn’t hurt a fly, but he’s been raised in a type of environment, and with a type of mother who has done everything for him, and placed certain expectations and pressure upon him.

Neither one, Jed or Clare are living the life they had originally wanted. And it’s sad that in their marriage they seem so far away from one another.

Things for me took a turn, after Gabriel. I won’t give spoilers, but I will say, that while there were some twists along the way, they didn’t really “hit” me. They didn’t pack a punch.
The entire prob last third of the book, I was like “ok. I wanna know what happens but I’m just kind of going through the motions.” I wish that there would have been more of a “wow” factor somehow, so that certain things that happened would have almost invigorated me back into the story.

This is not a bad book. I enjoyed it, but as I said, it just fell flat.

[Tammy · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars. Reese Book Club - May ‘26 pick. Set inside the NYC art scene, this follows Clare, from her predictable life in upstate NY, to her marriage into Jed’s one-percent Park Avenue life that includes motherhood, betrayal, money and murder. If you enjoy reading about messy rich people drama you’ll want to read this. It’s a good one. A great thriller, very twisty. This book pushed me to add “Who is Maud Dixon” to my ‘26 must-read backlist (I heard it’s just as twisty!) 🎧 Pub. 5/5/26

[Maddi Harwood · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.25⭐️ I wonder if my expectations would’ve been different if this had been presented as literary fiction with a splash of mystery. That’s really what it is…I wouldn’t call it a thriller. The writing is fantastic, but the plot and characters felt a bit lacking for me. Interestingly, I enjoyed the first half more than the second, which seems to go against a lot of other reviews. My suggestion: go in expecting lit fic, and you’ll probably enjoy it more.

[Zoe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Slow-burning, sinister, and sophisticated!⁣
⁣
𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐅𝐈𝐍𝐄 𝐀𝐑𝐓 𝐎𝐅 𝐋𝐘𝐈𝐍𝐆 is a thought-provoking, character-driven thriller set in Manhattan that immerses readers into the life of Clare Bast, a mother and former art PhD student whose world is turned upside down when her lover, an affluent art dealer, is murdered in his home, leaving her as the primary suspect.⁣
⁣
The writing is taut and intense. The characters are layered, guarded, and secretive. And the plot, including all the subplots, unfurls into a suspenseful tale about life, loss, family, drama, deception, mayhem, infidelity, disillusionment, corruption, power, money, art, murder, and the lingering weight of guilt.⁣
⁣
Overall, 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐅𝐈𝐍𝐄 𝐀𝐑𝐓 𝐎𝐅 𝐋𝐘𝐈𝐍𝐆 is a tight, intricate, cunning novel by Andrews that offers a sharp reminder that secrets have a way of corroding the soul and nothing is ever quite as it seems.⁣

[gottalottie · Rating 2 out of 5]

never really felt like rooting for the MC, why wasn’t she clever? I was expecting that from the marketing. It wasn’t intriguing, the thriller aspect happens 50% in and then the twist was overly involved, pretty meh

[Maria Yankulova · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love reading about rich people living in NYC, especially on the Upper East Side. I love the hectic atmosphere of the city and walking throgh the streets of Manhattan with the characters, hence I am always picking books which narrative involves New York. Adding the art scene makes it even more better.

Other than the above (on which the book definately deliver) its quite mediocre as most of Reese’s picks over the last 3 years and quite forgetable.

[Sofija · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a three star read for me, but only because the affair at the beginning was so well written.

I liked the themes that this book was touching on: how one falls into a life they didn't choose, motherhood, passion, and technically growing up.
I enjoyed Clare's arc and didn't mind the affair as a means of her gaining herself back. I loved how she developed from being guided by inertia to making her own decisions.

However, the murder plot seemed too intellectual and abstract, and if I wasn't an art lover, I would have hated reading it. Further, I was not convinced at any point that Clare had the intelligence or skill to solve the murder by herself.

I also hated how Tasha is made to be this cartoon villain, and we can see that she is driving the plot from the start. Dorothy is a more nuanced villain and she is at least connected to the themes of motherhood and issues of social status. I wouldn't have minded Tasha not being involved at all if Dorothy was guilty of the crime.

All in all, it was a fun read but nowhere near as great as Who Is Maud Dixon.

[Kelli 🦋📚 · Rating 5 out of 5]

5⭐️s- I devoured this one! Juicy thriller filled with lies, scandal, murder and drama! I requested the arc and was lucky enough to grab a copy. Loved it and was Unputdownable. The characters made this book and enjoyed the whole cast. Kind of reminded me of somewhere between Sex and the City - especially Bunny - And Friends & Neighbors with all that scandal. I didn’t guess the murderer and the getting there was super suspenseful and twisty. I can see this thriller being hot this summer! Loved the art angle too!

✨Special thanks to NetGalley & Harper Books for this complimentary digital advanced copy in exchange for my honest thoughts.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I realized something about myself while reading this book. I can be so judge-y. 👩‍⚖️ Therefore, if a character makes a stupid mistake, the book enjoyment goes way down. But that's a me thing.

[Jackie Bergeron · Rating 3 out of 5]

The beginning had me charged up and so intrigued, but the twist became so obvious towards the middle that it made the rest boring.

Would probably read something else by this author in the future however as I liked it more than I didn’t.

[Janine · Rating 5 out of 5]

A taut and finely paced mystery centered in the art world satirizing the social scene of the pretentious world of the wealthy.

Clare Bast is bored and feels purposeless. Having stopped her work on her PhD in art history focusing on Brian Webley, a mid 29th C artist, to take care of her daughter, Sadie, she is caught off guard when her husband, Jed’s boss’s wife, Tasha, introduces her to gallery owner, Gabriel Prévost, who takes an interest in Clare and her art knowledge. Gabriel also has a secret - he has one of Webley’s paintings, Longfin, which he shows to Clare. Soon their relationship blossoms into a torrid affair but one night Clare becomes part of Gabriel’s murder. Clare then embarks on an investigation in to the corrupt world of art collection.

This is a slow burn mystery. You must be patient as you read. The author sets up the character of Clare - who I must admit I wasn’t always enchanted with - and the world of art collection. Once the murder is discovered things take off and the twists and turns begin. Clare’s carefully crafted social world obtained through her marriage to wealthy attorney, Jed Bast, is put under a microscope to show how vapid it is - surrendering her agency to wealth doesn’t bring Clare. much happiness.

Once I got past the character-driven moments in the story and the heart of the murder is exposed, I was riveted. I also learned so much about hedge funds and art collection though as the story moved on - some might think that’s not important but it brings to the fore the meaningless of what all that these things produce - and it’s certainly not happiness. And when Clare arises from the ashes of her former world, you’re really glad you read this book.

[Samantha · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is nothing new either in terms of content or structure, but it wonderfully does exactly what I want a Thriller to do: Keep me entertained and keep me guessing without anything icky or too much domestic sniping.

I wonder if this might be a bit difficult to follow especially toward the end without a bit of background in art and finance, but I thought the way all of the threads of the plot came together was well crafted and compelling.

It’s a reasonably good portrait of the art world and the type of less-than-aboveboard deals that sometimes occur, and Andrews created a really interesting plot and cast of characters to flesh out the story around the central crime.

I suppose it’s more apt to call this a Mystery than a true Thriller, as it’s not a particularly action-driven story, but it’s a good one, and while I wasn’t quite as enamored of this as I was of Who’s Afraid of Maud Dixon, I found this to be a well-paced, thoroughly enjoyable read.

*I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.*

[Meg · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit too slow burn for my taste at first 🫣 but WOW did it pick up by the end. The second half was twisty, tense and had me stressed in the best way trying to figure out who was lying and what was really going on (and telling the truth!). 3 stars for the first half, 4 for the second ⭐️

[Gina · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Angelie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super entertaining slow burn mystery with loads of drama, big and little lies, and many twists. I listening on audio, and loved Thérèse Plummer’s narration.

[Leah · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5⭐️

[Bonnie M Micheli · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5⭐️

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ok I enjoyed this book and was hooked all the way through. I was also surprised to see my culprit guess was wrong. I could totally see this as a movie.

[Jordan Poda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh. This was fine. The plot points were there but the pacing was slow, the characters seemed flat to me, and while the reveal made sense, I wasn’t surprised by it. Highly predictable even if the motive wasn’t clear until the end. 🥱

[Marisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received an Advanced Readers Copy from the publisher and it perfectly fit my mood as I’ve been rewatching Sex and the City and Gossip Girl.
Rich New Yorkers behaving badly apparently is my current catnip. Added layer of art and a murder. I really enjoyed this smart, fun mystery.

[Katie Grosvenor · Rating 2 out of 5]

No real twists. The art aspect was interesting, but overall not an engaging story

[Kristin Oswalt · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️

[Torie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wish I DNFed

[Bonnie Goldberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of my favourite kind of mysteries – Andrews puts her protagonist in what appears to be an impossible situation, of her own making, and then cleverly extricates her.

[Maggie B B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is a kind of novel that comes along every few years now about a woman who married well, gave up the work she was going to do, raised a child, and woke up one morning at thirty-something inside a life she does not entirely recognize. The novel is almost always set in New York. There is almost always money in it. The husband is almost always nice. The Fine Art of Lying, Alexandra Andrews’s follow-up to Who Is Maud Dixon? and Reese Witherspoon’s book club pick for May, belongs squarely to that genre, with an added complication: someone is murdered in the bed Clare Bast happens to be in, and a famous painting goes missing off the wall above them, and the rest of the novel is, technically, the unspooling of who killed him and why.

This is, technically, a thriller. But you will be reading the wrong book if you read it as a thriller. The plot is the convenience. The novel underneath the plot is the thing.

What Andrews is actually writing is a book about the particular psychological architecture of a woman who, at twenty-three or twenty-four, thought she was going to be one kind of person, and who, at thirty-something, finds herself living as a kind of person she does not entirely recognize. Clare was the one who got out of upstate New York on academic ability. She was going to write a dissertation on a difficult midcentury painter named Blake Webley. She met Jed. She got pregnant. She put the dissertation in a drawer. By the time the novel opens, she lives in a brownstone she did not buy with money that is not, in any meaningful sense, hers, raising a daughter named Sadie inside a marriage she insists is a happy one and a life she insists she chose.

The novel does not let her insist for very long.

What I want to credit Andrews for, before I get to what does not work, is that she has noticed something true about this kind of woman. The woman who has, on paper, everything. The woman who is loved by a husband who is, by every available measure, a good husband. The woman who is bored in a way she is not allowed to name, because the boredom itself would feel like ingratitude, and ingratitude, in a life like Clare’s, is the unforgivable sin. Andrews has the patience to sit with that boredom. She knows what it sounds like when a woman has been telling herself a story about her own contentment for so long that the story has become load-bearing, and she knows what happens to a person when something appears that is interesting enough to make the story creak.

The something, in this case, is Gabriel Prevost. He is an art dealer. He is European in the slightly amorphous, attractively unspecified way that European villains are required to be in novels of this kind. He owns, by improbable but plot-necessary coincidence, the very painting that was the subject of Clare’s abandoned dissertation. He is fluent in the one language Clare has been silent in for half a decade, and the affair that follows is, by widespread reader agreement and by my own, the best thing in the book. Andrews writes it with real heat, but the heat is not the point. The point is that Clare, in those scenes, is permitted to use a part of herself that has been sealed off, and you understand exactly what it has been costing her to keep it sealed. There are women reading this book who recognize that exact pressure-release. There are women reading this book who recognize it and pretend they do not.

The murder, when it comes, comes too late and resolves too cleanly. I want to be honest about this. The second half of the book is where the seams show. The plot machinery turns out to have been more interested in itself than in its protagonist, and the final third is given over largely to characters explaining their previous behavior to one another in rooms. Tasha, the boss’s wife, is so plainly the villain so early that the eventual revelation lands with the soft thud of a thing you have been waiting for. Jed, the husband, never quite materializes as a character. He is a slot that needs to be filled. Other reviewers have pointed this out, and they are right.

Here is what I want to say in defense of the book anyway, because I think it is a more interesting book than its weakest scenes suggest. Andrews is not actually writing a thriller. She is writing a novel about female agency at the moment when a woman discovers, with a kind of late-arriving horror, that she has been an object in her own life for years, and that she did not notice because the furniture was so good. Clare’s investigation of the murder is, structurally and thematically, the same activity as her investigation of her own marriage. She is asking, in both cases, what she has been complicit in. She is asking who arranged the circumstances of her life and what they intended her to do within them. The thriller plot is, in this sense, a permission slip. It gives Clare a reason to ask the questions she would not otherwise be allowed, by the terms of her own life, to ask.

A line from late in the book has been quoted in nearly every review of it, and I will quote it too, because it is the actual argument: Her life was hers to create. She could make any choice she wanted to, as long as she was willing to accept the consequences. That sentence is not, on its surface, very interesting. It is the kind of sentence a woman says to herself in the bathroom mirror at forty. What makes it interesting in this book is that Clare arrives at it only after a man has been killed, a painting has been stolen, a marriage has cracked, and she has done several things she will spend the rest of her life answering for. The sentence is a verdict, not an inspiration. It is the price tag at the end of a transaction that the reader has been watching her make.

Three and a half stars, maybe four on a generous afternoon. A thriller readers will, fairly, find too slow and too telegraphed in its back half. A novel about a particular kind of woman, in a particular kind of marriage, at a particular stage of life, that I will be thinking about longer than the thriller earns. If you read it as the book it actually is, rather than the book the back cover wants you to think it is, you will get more out of it. Andrews has written, underneath the genre furniture, an honest book about what it costs a clever woman to mistake comfort for a life. I will take that, with its flaws, over a more competent thriller almost any day.

[Jessica Woodbury · Rating 3 out of 5]

For a long time it seems like The Fine Art of Lying is just a straightforward affair-plus-murder crime novel. Which isn't all that unusual, but is surprising since Andrews' first novel, Who Is Maud Dixon?, had some particularly noteworthy twists. Eventually there are twists in store. Structurally they are quite nice, though we end up in the very place you probably could have predicted 20 pages in if you decided to put a bet on it. It's enough to make you wish away the twists and turns.

That's the thing that's strangest about this book: it is at its best before it gets twisty. As soon as the mystery starts to pick up, the book itself loses all momentum and becomes characters explaining things for almost the entire last half.

There is also another major problem here: this is a book about an unhappy marriage. It is obviously unhappy to the reader, even though our protagonist insists (to the point of annoyance) that it is happy and that she loves her husband. And yet, Andrews has basically written herself into an impossible situation. If it turns out the marriage is just fine, then the reader will be frustrated because we haven't seen anything to make us believe that on the page. But if the relationship is going to fracture in a way that would feel earned, then you have to give us some runway to get there. The gap between Clare's actual life and what Clare insists she actually feels about it is irksome and it just keeps bubbling up in a way that makes things worse and worse though Clare never seems to really get that. It would be nice if Clare had some kind of epiphany, but the book is too stuck on explaining its way through its more complex plot elements than in letting any kind of character development happen. The moments when we have to wonder if we need to see Clare's husband Jed in a new light don't really land all that well, because despite Clare's insistence that he is such a nice guy, we have no real evidence of him being any kind of guy at all! He is, in the end, all plot device. Although it is nice to see the husband be the character-less plot device for a change.

Andrews brings you in very well, and it reminded me of how much I enjoyed her first novel. But ultimately I was really over this book. Feels rushed, as if it's checking boxes. Which is a shame, because once we get the full plot it is a good one. It just needs to be rolled out to the reader in a much sharper way. It feels like there is a big piece missing, some kind of b-plot or other character who could add some color or perspective. Clare is pretty one-note, it's hard to care all that much about her.

[Joy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Um, this is no Who is Maud Dixon?… This is a story about business and art fraud, so if you find that interesting, this is a book for you. I found the protagonist fairly thoughtless (as in she didn’t think about much until after she did things and then was shocked at how poor her various decisions were) and somewhat ridiculous. I also found the narrator’s voice for the child to be very grating.

I didn’t find the plot line very interesting — it may have made a better episode for Law & Order. This is really a disappointment after the smashing Who is Maude Dixon?

I will give a shout out to the passing reference to a Boscov’s in Binghamton, NY—but it called it a fading department store!!! (Gasp)

There was also something very off on the timeframe for the protagonist’s life: she began dating her husband during COVID (2020 at the earliest, obviously), and then got married. She began a PhD program at Columbia after they were married and was ABD by the time she had their first child, who is now 4 in 2026. The only way that sequence could possibly work is if they began dating in March 2020, got married in summer 2020, and she began her PhD program in fall 2020, and all the PhD coursework and field exams only take 2 years total (fall 2020 to spring 2022, because she needs to have a 4 year old child by spring 2026). That timing for each of those events is highly, highly unlikely—and if that was the case, you’d think the story would mention that they met and married in 5-6 months and she started her PhD program weeks later, because that would be a crazy series of life decisions.
Also, while I’m belaboring this point, I will add that this protagonist is a perfect stereotype for someone who is ABD. But what’s more, she also decides in the last 15 minutes of the book that she didn’t want to be married either, so she instigates a divorce after having had cheated on her husband. This is all why I said above that I find her to be thoughtless (without thoughts about potential repercussions until after she took actions).

[Victoria Colotta · Rating 4 out of 5]

What if The New York City Housewives got mixed up in murder and duplicitous art dealings? Honestly, it couldn’t be better or more salaciously compelling than this book. THE FINE ART OF LYING has secrets, lies, and murder all surrounding a complex web of art and the New York elite. Andrews gifts her readers with tension and very real emotions surrounding all types of relationships.

What I love about this book is that it gets messy. Clare is a flawed woman. She gives in to her desires, and because of that, she is thrust into a situation forcing her to defend her innocence and discover the truth. As she gets further into the case, Clare realizes those around her are all hiding something, and no one is exactly as they seem. The twists. The turns. The ending. It is so good.

THE FINE ART OF LYING was not what I expected, but I am here for it all. I do not know what the author is going to give us next, but I know I will be reading it.

Highly Caffeinated Rating of… ☕ ☕ ☕ ☕

Audiobook Note: I spent some time listening to this audiobook. Narrator Therese Plummer did a good job of bringing the story to life.

Pace: ☕ ☕ ☕ ☕ ☕
Elocution: ☕ ☕ ☕ ☕
Characters: ☕ ☕ ☕ ☕

Reviewer Disclaimer: I have been playing around with a hybrid reading method where I read and listen to the same book. The publisher gave me the physical book and audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

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[Brian - readingwithbrian · Rating 4 out of 5]

🎧 Alexandra Andrews officially proves that Who Is Maud Dixon was not a fluke. This was easily one of my most anticipated books of 2026 and I’m happy to report it absolutely delivered. Smart, stylish, and packed with tension, this is the kind of thriller that pulls you into a world most of us will never experience and makes you never want to leave. Or maybe run far away from it. 😂

🎧 If you love books about art, wealth, power, and people reinventing themselves, you need this on your radar. Clare is such a compelling protagonist because beneath the glamorous Upper East Side life, she constantly feels like she doesn’t belong. Watching her get drawn deeper into the elite art world while trying to reclaim a part of herself made this feel more layered than your average thriller. And once the murder investigation kicks in? I could not stop listening.

🎧 What really worked for me was how immersive the whole thing felt. International art dealers, stolen masterpieces, shady collectors, expensive apartments hiding ugly secrets… it has that intoxicating blend of sophistication and danger that makes for such an addictive read. Alexandra Andrews writes these worlds so well without ever sacrificing pacing or suspense.

🎧 I also highly recommend the audiobook. Therese Plummer absolutely nailed the tone here. Her performance added so much tension and elegance to the story and made Clare’s unraveling feel even more intense.

🎧 4.5 stars for this one. If you’re looking for a thriller that feels glamorous, sharp, and just a little dangerous, this is exactly the kind of book to add to your list.

[Michele · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just when I thought I was on a run of good books, a Reese pick came along and slapped me upside my head.

Clare is an uber wealthy housewife who is disenchanted with her marriage and life of privilege. Having abandoned her attempt at a PhD after the birth of her daughter, years later she jumps at the chance to dip back into the world of art galleries, museums and fancy business. Enter the painting called Longfin, conveniently the subject of her dissertation.

I actually read the blurbs on this one and knew there would be a crime. 35% of the way into the book, I was so over Calre's obsession with that dumb painting and her schemes that I wanted to quit. I don't think the crime entered the plot until dang near 60% and by then, Clare and basically every other character in the book were beyond redemption for me. Too long, too meandering, too ridiculous. Nope on a rope.

I also didn't care for that narrator at all. I cannot stand adults performing children as sickly sweet baby voices with affected speech (it's an elevator, not an alligator, we are all adults here). And I really cannot stand the deeply mysterious, non specific European accents with rolling r's. The narrator definitely influenced my dislike of the book, so maybe this would have been more successful in print. But then again, I want a word count on the number of times "Longfin" was mentioned. TOO DAMN MANY.

Three stars, and that's being generous. You got me again Reese.