Murder In Pastel

Rating:
Summary: Multi-textured intrigue
Review: Colin Dunne cleverly blends a painting's subject with the story of some gay friends and the story of a missing artist (and his missing painting). The resulting tale always intrigues, with a focus on strong dialogue and character development. You don't have to be gay to enjoy this book. Nor do you have to like mystery novels. Just the characters and conflicts that start the novel would have kept my attention, but the added dimension of the murder and the painting made me read quickly to the surprising twists of the novel's closing chapters.

Rating:
Summary: Yes! Yes! Yes! A brilliant story, well plotted and written
Review: I found this book to be immensely well-written, with plausible characters (if implausible names), a plausible story-line, and thoroughly enjoyable. I'm a great fan of murder mysteries and this book is as good as the best of its type. It isn't a 'police procedural' however, like so many recent muder novels. It's more a delving into the minds of a very closed community, an examination of motives, desires, and personas.

It is, in fact, very "Agatha Christie".

Well worth reading.

Rating:
Summary: exciting mystery centering on a fascinating human drama
Review: Internationally acclaimed painter Cosmos Bari's works go for millions. Art critics agree that the great artist's best painting is the Virgin in Pastel. However, one day about a decade ago, Cosmos and the painting vanished. Even his son Kyle has not heard or seen him since. Kyle believes his famous father is dead.

Kyle lives a serene life in Steeple Hill until Adam MacKinon accompanied by his lover Brett returns home. Kyle has always loved Adam, but the older man looks upon him as a child. Brett is like a serpent in Eden as he stirs up trouble wherever he goes. Someone kills the snake and tries to murder Kyle next. Unable to idly wait for another attempt on his life, Kyle begins making his own inquiries that soon lead him to investigating his missing father and the lost masterpiece.

MURDER IN PASTEL is an exciting mystery that centers on a fascinating human drama. The story line is structurally strong mostly due to the characters that feel genuine and the locale being like a depiction of Fire Island, New York. The underlying love story between Kyle and Adam is a poignant beautiful relationship. Talented author Colin Dunne augments that subplot by allowing the reader to perceptively understand Adam's emotional thought processes even as he remains a somewhat enigmatic hero.

Rating:
Summary: An elegant, highly recommended mystery.
Review: Set in an isolated artist's colony on the California coast, Murder In Pastel is not one of those cookie-cutter books we see constantly nowadays. Dunne has gone ahead and written what he wanted to write, which always works better than novels cobbled to suit corporate demand.

The protagonist, mystery author Kyle Bari, remains under the powerful influence of his past. When he was a teen, sick with heart trouble, Kyle's father--the famous painter Cosmo--deserted him. He was left to the care of his father's friends. Kyle has never understood Cosmo's disappearance. He still lives in the house of his childhood and, in many ways, his life has not progressed at all. He is a gay man, with no love relationship, who uses his writing to separate himself from the intensity of others' demands.

When Adam, Kyle's long-time crush, returns to the cottage next door after a prolonged absence, Kyle's emotions are finally stirred. But the little matter of Adam's handsome live-in lover, Brett, intrudes. Brett is trouble. He stirs up dissonance within the little community and soon, someone tries to do away with him. Kyle wonders if the assaults can be traced to Brett's search for information about Cosmo and a missing, valuable paining--Virgin in Pastel.

Dunne peppers his leisurely, thoughtful prose with wry observations that charm. He writes with a sure, commanding hand and has connected with her main character's core. The narrative voice is a highly likable one. Readers should not avoid this book based on the sexual orientation of the cast as the novel does not, anywhere, offend. The puzzle compels as does the need to know more about the story's personalities. Colin Dunne is an author to be sought out by all who enjoy a bit of elegance in their mystery.

G. Miki Hayden, Reviewer

Rating:
Summary: A very interesting book
Review: This book is a very interesting book, I usually don't read mystery, but I found myself reading through it, unable to put it down for long. The plot is appropriatly suspensful, not letting you know what was really going on until near the end. The romantic subplot going on through out the story was not over done to the point where you forgot that the story was a mystery and not a romance.

If this writer were to write more books I would probably not hesitate to buy them, despite not being a fan of the genre.

Rating:
Summary: An amazing thriller !
Review: This book is so good that I finished it in one sitting. There is not one wasted word and I was in for a thrilling ride once I started. The mystery is taut, intense and captivating, the entangled romance sensitive and touching. The hero, Kyle, with a weak heart, is immensely likable and well potrayed. It is a rarity that a character could stand up so well in short mystery novel but Kyle does. Kyle finally accepting the loss of his father and the revelation of a half brother he would never have a chance to acknowledge gives a touch of melancholy to the story. Definitely one of my favourites.

Rating:
Summary: Eminently Readable
Review: This story fascinated me from beginning to end. Colin Dunne's elegant, lyrical yet dialogue-driven style -- no word wasted -- fits the subject...so do the setting and the choice of 'gay protagonists.' Using the 'first person' voice is a classic method of suspense writing...Dunne makes it look easy. The mystery puzzles, the romantic element heightens the excitement, and the cast entertains. Well done!

Rating:
Summary: Engrossing story of love and murder
Review: Too often novels - mystery or not - set among artists and artist colonies come off as unbearably pretentious, usually as a result of hokey dialogue and an unconvincing grasp of the true artist's life. Dunne avoids the trap here. This is a highly believable tale of repressed passion and unsuppressed murder in a small artists community in seaside California.

The book's pleasure comes from the mystery itself, of course, which is tightly woven and suspenseful right to the end, but also from Dunne's accurate, lyrical depictions of character and landscape. Once begun, it is hard to put this one down.