An award-winning author of eight novels, Claudia Riess graduated from Vassar and resides in Manhattan. Her most recent novel is the fifth book in her art history mystery series. Dying for Monet will be released May 28, 2024 by Level Best Books.

Book 5 of Claudia Riess’s art history mystery series opens on a gala evening auction at Laszlo’s, an upstart auction house in New York City. After a much sought-after Impressionist still life painting is without notice withdrawn from the auction block, its broker is found dead at the foot of an imposing statue in Laszlo’s courtyard. Amateur sleuths Erika Shawn and Harrison Wheatley are once again drawn into an investigation involving an art-related homicide, this time with one sharing an unnerving coincidence with violent crimes occurring abroad.

As Harrison searches for clues in the archives at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, Erika is on a stakeout in Brooklyn Heights gathering information on the owner of the hijacked still life.  After Harrison experiences a disastrous encounter in London, he returns home, where he and Erika, along with a few of their usual cohorts, find themselves ever more deeply at odds with the movers and shakers on the dark side of fine arts commerce.

Claudia Riess has worked in the editorial departments of The New Yorker and Holt, Rinehart and Winston, and has edited several art history monographs.  Stolen Light, the first book in her art history mystery series, was chosen by Vassar’s Latin American history professor for distribution to the college’s people-to-people trips to Cuba.  To Kingdom Come, the fourth, will be added to the syllabus of a survey course on West and Central African Art at a prominent Midwestern university.  Claudia has written a number of articles for Mystery Readers Journal, Women’s National Book Association, the Sisters in Crime Bloodletter, and Mystery Scene magazine.  She is available for, and has been featured on, a variety of podcasts and Zoom events.  To read more about Claudia and her work, visit claudiariessbooks.com.

All five books in the art history mystery series are available through Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, IndieBound.org and at independent book stores. For bulk discount purchases, contact https://levelbestbooks.wordpress.com.

 

The hardest part about writing is planting myself in my desk chair and raising the lid of my computer when I’m not viscerally compelled to do so.  When I know exactly where a scene is headed and how my characters are about to interact, there’s no problem: I’m already typing in the air before I even log in.

Luckily, the problem has largely been eliminated.  Instead of sitting down cold at the computer, I now take a couple of preparatory steps, so that there’s an actual transitioning from the state of Not Writing to Writing.  I’ve found that when a ritual series of events is initiated, after a while the desired action flows naturally from it, requiring no prodding or coercion.

Here’s a typical ritual. First, I sort through the papers on my desk with notes on upcoming chapters.  Some notes are scrawled on sheets torn from legal pads.  Others are typed dialogue or expository bits.  I separate the notes dealing with the chapter either in the works or about to start from all the upcoming chapters with a colored folder. Next, I arrange the notes in the order I anticipate their subjects will arise.  After that, if there’s an upcoming historical, geographical, academic or environmental issue that requires a bit of research (the major research has already been done), I’ll Google it.  An example: My characters will shortly be boarding a private jet.  I’ve never been on or close to a private jet.  I look up the subject, then study the photos and read the technical matter on dimensions, propulsion, flight staff.

The penultimate step, and maybe the most important because it’s just about as close to Pavlovian stimulus-response as it gets, is this:  I prepare a hot beverage, usually tea, sometimes cocoa, and place it on a coaster in the open side-drawer of my desk (there’s no room on the top of my desk). The last step is virtually as instinctive as a dancer’s practiced leap: my body places itself in the desk chair while my fingers pinch the lid of my MacBook and raise it.

I take a sip of the beverage. I type my password and click open the manuscript I’m currently grappling with. The higher functions of my brain kick in, and I’m on my way.  Sometimes I become too engrossed to ever getting around to taking a second sip.

***

Claudia Riess is an award-winning author of seven novels, four of which form her art history mystery series published by Level Best Books.  She has worked in the editorial departments of The New Yorker and Holt, Rinehart and Winston, and has edited several art history monographs.  Stolen Light, the first book in her series, was chosen by Vassar’s Latin American history professor for distribution to the college’s people-to-people trips to Cuba.  To Kingdom Come, the fourth and most recent, will be added to the syllabus of a survey course on West and Central African Art at a prominent Midwestern university.  Claudia has written a number of articles for Mystery Readers Journal, Women’s National Book Association, and Mystery Scene magazine.  At present, she’s consulting with her protagonists about a questionable plot twist in Chapter 9 of the duo’s murder investigation unfolding in book 5; working title: Dreaming of Monet, scheduled for release winter 2024.

 

 

An award-winning author of seven novels, Claudia Riess graduated from Vassar and resides in Manhattan and Westhampton Beach. Her most recent novel is the fourth book in her art history mystery series. “To Kingdom Come” will be released in Spring 2022 by Level Best Books.

Last year, Riess signed a second three-book contract with Level Best Books to continue the series that began with “Stolen Light.” The plot involved murder, the Italian Renaissance, and the Cuban Revolution—as well as a love story. The book was chosen by the Vassar travel program coordinator and the Vassar Latin American professor for distribution to the participants in their 2017 “people-to-people” trips to Cuba.

The latest suspense novel set in the art world, “sleuths Erika Shawn, art magazine editor, and Harrison Wheatley, art history professor. Now married, the couple is caught up in a multiple-murder case involving the repatriation of African art and artifacts seized by the British in the late nineteenth century during the colonial era. Much of the action takes place in London, scene of the crimes and quest for redemption.

 

“Riess uses words as an artist uses a paint brush; the pages come to life.” –Joseph Epstein, Ph.D

“Mystery. Passion. Crime. What more could a book-lover want!” –Elizabeth Cooke, author of the Hotel Marcel Series

 

An engaging speaker, Riess has recently given several author talks via Zoom for libraries* and is scheduled for future Zoom and podcast events at more venues.  Subjects include “Anatomy of a Murder Mystery,” “Dangerous Liaison: Fiction and History,” and “The Joys and Perils of Creating a Mystery Series.” Her talks are of interest to both authors and readers.

 

“Thank you for a fun evening. It was very interesting to hear about the process of writing.” –Jocelyn Ozolins, Head of Reference, Shelter Island Library

 

Claudia Riess has worked in the editorial departments of The New Yorker magazine and Holt Rinehart and Winston. She has also edited several art history monographs.

All four books in the art history mystery series are available through Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, IndieBound.org, and at independent bookstores; bulk discount purchases.