The Art Collector

In February 1987, photographer Seal Larsen—a Warhol protégé and fixture of New York's downtown art scene—dies in a suspicious fall from the 15th floor of her Manhattan apartment building. Her friend and neighbor, Emma Quinn, a history professor at Columbia University with connections to the intelligence community, becomes determined to uncover what really happened. As Emma investigates Seal's life and work, she discovers how little she actually knew about her friend. Her search takes her from Manhattan to Memphis and rural Tennessee, where she uncovers a tragedy that shaped Seal's past and the truth behind her death. The novel explores the value of art and artists, as well as the culture of Manhattan's art boom in the latter half of the twentieth century. This sequel to Susan Bacon's award-winning political mystery The History Teacher weaves together a mystery with multiple plot turns, spanning both present-day chapters and those set in the past across different locations and time periods.