Blue Smoke and Murder

St. Kilda Consulting Book 3

by Elizabeth Lowell

Avon Books

March 31, 2009

Available in: Paperback

Blue Smoke and Murder
by Elizabeth Lowell

Jill Breck was just doing her job as a river guide when she saved the life of Lane Faroe, son of two of St. Kilda's Consulting's premier operators. But when a string of ominous events---including a mysterious fire that kills her great aunt and a furor in the Western art world raised by a dozen Breck family paintings---culminate in a threat to her life, Jill reluctantly calls in a favor.

Zach Balfour works part-time as a consultant for St. Kilda. His expertise is gathering and analyzing information from unlikely and often dangerous sources. Though he's got the skills to be a highly effective bodyguard, being a bullet catcher isn't his preferred way to spend time.

Protecting Jill will take him into familiar territory---among a strange, savagely competitive bunch of collectors who'll do anything to stay at the top. But Jill is in deeper waters than she's ever known; as she soon discovers, the perils of running wild rivers are tame compared to the hidden dangers in the high-stakes game of art collecting.

From the cozy rooms of the Breck homestead cabin to the cold multi-million dollar galleries of the Western art circuit, Zach and Jill must race against time to unmask a ruthless killer hidden in a blue smoke of money, threats, lies, and death . . .



Elizabeth Lowell's Bio

Individually and with co-author/husband Evan, Ann Maxwell has written seventy novels and one work of non-fiction. There are 30 million copies of these books in print, as well as reprints in 30 foreign languages. These novels range from science fiction to historical fiction, from romance to mystery to suspense. Writing as Ann Maxwell, she began her career in 1975 with a science fiction novel, Change. Since then, seven of her nine science fiction novels have been recommended for the Science Fiction Writers of America Nebula Award; A Dead God Dancing was nominated for what was then-called TABA (The American Book Award). In 1976 Ann and Evan (as A. E. Maxwell) collaborated with a Norwegian hunter and photographer, Ivar Ruud, on The Year-Long Day, a nonfiction work about Ruud's life as a trapper and hunter in the Arctic Circle. The book was later condensed in Reader's Digest and published in four foreign editions and three book club editions. In 1985, Just Another Day in Paradise, was published by Doubleday. It was the first of eight A. E. Maxwell crime novels, featuring couple Fiddler and Fiora faced with mysteries in the shade of sunny southern California. The second book, The Frog and the Scorpion, received a creative writing award from the University of California. The fourth book in the series, Just Enough Light to Kill, was named by Time Magazine as one of the best crime novels of 1988. Ann and Evan (writing as Ann Maxwell) have published four suspense novels, the most recent of which is Shadow and Silk. These novels appeared on nation-wide bestseller lists and are considered groundbreaking in the field of romantic suspense, which she helped innovate. In 1982, Ann began publishing romance novels as Elizabeth Lowell. Under that name she has received numerous professional awards in the romance field, including a Lifetime Achievement award from the Romance Writers of America in 1994. She has written both contemporary and historical romances as well as western romance. Since July of 1992, she has had more than thirty novels on the New York Times bestseller list, as well as other national and international bestseller lists. The series of novels featuring the unforgettable Donovan family---Amber Beach, Jade Island, Pearl Cove and Midnight in Ruby Bayou have won acclaim as some of her best romance novels. Her most recent romantic suspense is Night Diver. Her newest romance novel is Perfect Touch. You can connect with Ann on Facebook or Google+.