Winter/Spring, 2025
THE HAUNTED ARTIST
a novel
Julian Peale Art-Crime Mystery, No. 4
The death of Sam Mason, a young painter, shakes a small New England town. Police say suicide. But his sister can’t believe he would do such a thing. She enlists the help of Castelli and Associates, which specializes in art crime, and Julian Peale is on the case. With Sam gone, his paintings—seemingly lost, hidden, or even a mirage—now stir a race to find out what happened, if not to cash in on his legacy.
Art dealers see Sam as a “late, great artist” in the making. They’re all after whatever of Sam’s mysterious works they can find. Delving into the artist’s past, Peale traces the threads of Sam’s life across middle America, from Pittsburgh and Savannah to St. Louis and Atlanta. As a struggling artist, it seems Sam had fallen into bad company, beginning with a shady art dealer and then a small-time duo of Albanian crooks. Sam had also been dabbling in the dark arts.
Peale’s investigation takes him to art schools, urban scenes, the high-end art market, and a migrant community trying to do good—except for a few gone bad. The missing paintings remain a puzzle until the end, a time when bigger mysteries—and darker forces—unfold when least expected.
Larry Witham is the author of nineteen books, an award-winning journalist and by avocation a fine art painter. This is his sixth novel, the fourth in the Julian Peale series. He lives in the Maryland suburbs of Washington D.C. Visit him at www.larrywitham.com.
larrywitham@gmail.com
The Julian Peale Art-Crime Investigator Series
He left the battlefield for the artworld—and found a different kind of war. Former navy intel sleuth Julian Peale turns art-crime investigator.
Incident at Devil’s Finger, No. 3
After an apparent attempt to harm the performance artist Magnifica, Julian Peale tries to penetrate the colorful art scene around her and find the elusive culprit.
The Silk Road Affair, No. 2
US agents Julian Peale and Grace Ho launch a mission of intrigue into modern China in search of stolen art amid a global contest for cultural power.
Gallery Pieces: an Art Mystery. No. 1
Art forgery and theft embroil Julian Peale in an investigation stretching from the back streets of Manhattan to the tony art scene of London—and to a masterpiece stolen in WWII.