The Art Fiasco

'Poppy Denby's back doing what she does best, and this time in Newcastle! Cleverly plotted as always, with an exceptional eye for detail and a fabulous amateur sleuth, Veitch Smith carries us back once more to the Golden Age for this delicious murder mystery.' Jacky Collins (Dr Noir)

It’s 1924 and Poppy Denby is heading up to Northumberland to celebrate her father’s sixtieth birthday. She stops off in Newcastle en route to visit her Aunt Dot, who has temporarily relocated from London to renovate a house she’s inherited.

One of Aunt Dot’s guests is the world-renowned artist, Agnes Robson, who is staging an exhibition at the Laing Art Gallery. Reluctantly, Poppy is roped in to help when the artist’s press liaison man falls ill.

She soon discovers that the local press has dug up some dirt on Agnes relating to the tragic death of a young art teacher in Ashington Colliery, twenty-seven years earlier. As she tries to suppress the story, Poppy begins to suspect that the teacher might have been murdered and that the killer may still be on the loose…

'Poppy Denby s latest investigation combines an intriguing cold case mystery with a murder puzzle set in Newcastle in 1924. Complete with map and cast of characters, this is great fun for fans of mysteries set during detection s Golden Age.' Martin Edwards, author of Mortmain Hall, Gallows Court, and The Golden Age of Murder

'This latest in the Poppy Denby series continues Fiona Veitch Smith s compelling grip over historical story and murder mystery. She throws a spell as she brings together her cast of characters that instills in the reader empathy with them and forms a vivid sense of place (in this case north-east England) and period. Smith s choice of a 1920s setting is inspired, with its deep social and cultural changes which are so vividly captured you could wonder if the author had time-travelled.' Colin Duriez, author of Dorothy L. Sayers: A Biography