Susan C. Shea's Blog

MIXED UP WITH MURDER once again throws fundraiser Dani O'Rourke into situations where wealthy people and those who wants some of that wealth create havoc, tragedy, and some dark comedy along the way.

There's so much money being thrown at what I call trophy art today - name paintings by name artists in popular periods - that it inhibits the past collectors like museums and art lovers, and favors a set of buyers who use art for status, media coverage, and money laundering. Not what Picasso, Andy Warhol, and Georgia O'Keeffe had in mind!

I look at the point where the money trumps the art for people's attention and interest, and even lust, because that's where temptation slinks into the equation. In my new book, a wealthy man creates a major collection, but stores it in a warehouse, then rushes to give it away. What's going on? Clearly, he's no art lover.

This state of affairs saddens me, partly because it's also changing the nature of museums, which jostle each other to cater to people who have such collections. They may accept and show work not always because it's exciting an invigorating but because putting that piece on the wall with a plaque that says it was (or will be) given by Joe Rich Man is a way to curry favor and more gifts. It tilts toward the safe and the past. It tilts toward the big and the fashionable.

Don't get me wrong: I love Monet and Manet and, especially, Matisse. I'm glad the museums got them before their prices went above $100 million per canvas. I just think the current focus on art as a kind of Bitcoin isn't a healthy development.

I hope you'll try MIXED UP WITH MURDER to get a small taste of this brave new art world!

Recently, the crime writers who make up 7 Criminal Minds were asked: “Have you ever tried to write a main character of a different sex?” My answer was, important characters, yes. Protagonists, no. I haven’t felt the need in any … Continue reading →

Today, I posted on a group blog called Criminal minds, where I contribute every other Monday. The theme was best and worst book events you’ve done. I thought readers on my blog who don’t see Criminal Minds might enjoy this … Continue reading →

There’s a tag game going around among authors. Diana Chambers tagged me posted last week and tagged me for today. She writes that she “was born with a book in one hand and passport in the other.” Before long, she was wandering … Continue reading →

The third Dani O'Rourke mystery comes out this fall. I'm excited. Dani is flattered to be invited to do some fundraising consulting at a lovely New England college but before she can even start, someone drowns on a golf course.

As always, Dani commutes between her home base in cool, foggy San Francisco and another wonderful spot in the U.S. She also attends a posh polo match, works with a ruthless venture capitalist, and winds up in real personal danger in Mixed Up with Murder.

Of course, her inner voice is busy running a private commentary on events the whole time and Dickie, never one to think twice, pops up on scene to "help" his ex-wife.

I enjoyed writing this book and hope readers will like it too.

Another stop on the virtual tour, today with some of our best, award-winning crime writers, who blog together as Jungle Red Writers. My post is called “Sister, Can You Spare a Dime?” and is about my past profession as a … Continue reading →

Teresa’s Writing Corner is one of the stops on my current blog tour. The post I wrote for her is about Dani and Dickie’s backstory and the dilemma she faced after he took up with a celebrity underwear model. What … Continue reading →

I don’t do this often, but since I’ve been asked a few times why I chose this artifact to build the new book’s mystery around, I wrote a bit about the African history that gave me the idea. This was … Continue reading →

How much of success is writing and how much is waving and blowing whistles to imprint your book in readers’ heads? Continue reading →

He also wanted to serve, to create, and to have lived exactly the life he visualized for himself. That he did to such a large degree is a measure of the man and the artist. Continue reading →