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Jane Stanton Hitchcock is the New York Times bestselling author of Mortal Friends, The Witches' Hammer, Social Crimes, and Trick of the Eye, as well as several plays. She lives with her husband, syndicated foreign-affairs columnist Jim Hoagland, in New York City and Washington, D.C.
Trick of the Eye: A Novel
eBook
$6.99
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ISBN-13:
9780062206558
- Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
- Publication date: 06/26/2012
- Sold by: HARPERCOLLINS
- Format: eBook
- Pages: 272
- Sales rank: 225,192
- File size: 960 KB
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Another high-society thriller from New York Times bestselling author Jane Stanton Hitchcock, Trick of the Eye is a tale of art, intrigue, and murder in a world where evil tarnishes privilege and nothing is what it appears to be.
Trompe l’oeil artist Faith Cromwell is hired to paint the famed ballroom of an opulent Long Island estate, but her patron is obsessed with the long-unsolved murder of a daughter, and soon Faith begins to piece together the details of the grisly, shocking crime.
The deeper Faith delves into the house’s mystery, the more she realizes that she has inadvertently stepped into the starring role of a bizarre, and quite possibly fatal, charade.
Like Social Crimes and One Dangerous Lady, Trick of the Eye is another highly sophisticated and deeply compelling mystery from master writer Jane Stanton Hitchcock.
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Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly
A tautly controlled narrative voice and a prose style that transcends genre key the action in this gothic thriller about a successful trompe l'oeil artist commissioned to work at a grand old estate on the North Shore of Long Island. Faith Crowell, a 39-year-old self-described ``spinster,'' is happiest when alone with her thoughts. Her ability to ``paint a variety of illusionary images on any compatible surface'' brings her work to the attention of Frances Griffin, a reclusive widow and fabulously wealthy collector, who wants Faith to repaint the huge ballroom of her mansion, the Haven. Mrs. Griffin reveals that the ballroom was built for the coming-out party of her daughter Cassandra, who was stabbed to death shortly after her marriage. As Faith begins her work, the grisly, unsolved murder comes to haunt her, and she sets about attempting to solve the 15-year-old case with the aid of her friend, Harry Pitt. The Haven, Faith learns, harbors many lurid secrets, not the least of which may be Mrs. Griffin's own connection to the crime. Readers of Hitchcock's well-made tale will enjoy discovering whether this master craftswoman of the art of surfaces will be able to penetrate the moneyed Griffin veneer and locate the shocking truth. (Sept.)
Library Journal
Wealthy New York society matron and patron of the arts Frances Griffin commissions Faith Crowell, a 39-year-old trompe l'oeil artist, to paint the interior of her ballroom, built 20 years earlier for the debutante cotillion of her now-deceased daughter, Cassandra. During this assignment, Faith learns that Cassandra's murder remains unsolved, and Mrs. Griffin seems to know more about it than she is telling. Intrigued with the mystery and possible cover-up, Faith digs beneath the surface and uncovers the extraordinary, evil truth dividing appearance from reality. First novelist Hitchcock's material borders on the melodramatic, and her plot borders on the unlikely, but her writing commands attention. Recommended for lovers of suspense and Gothic novels.-- Sheila Riley, Smithsonian Inst. Libs., Washington, D.C.
Kirkus Reviews
Dramatist Stanton's first novel is a thoroughly satisfying thriller—simultaneously luscious and ladylike as it traces the cat-and-mouse relationship between a wealthy old New York dowager and the solitary artist she hires to help re-create her past. Faith Crowell is nearly 40 and feels—with some relief, some regret—that she's now safely past the age of passion, obsessive love, and unsatisfied longings. Concentrating on contenting herself with a solitary life in Manhattan—complete with cat, comfy apartment, and a successful, if hardly brilliant, career as a specialist in trompe l' oeil—Faith is shocked when grande dame Frances Griffin drops into her studio like an errant comet landing on a desert floor. The primly dressed, sharply opinionated elderly woman has come to ask Crowell, who creates artistic illusions for the very wealthy, to paint the ballroom of her legendary Long Island mansion. Flattered, Faith accepts, despite a reluctance to shut down the rest of her business for the six months that the project will take. She quickly becomes enthralled, however, as she enters the beautiful, marble-floored ballroom, hears the story of its single night of service as the site of Frances's only daughter's debutante ball, learns of the daughter's brutal unsolved murder a few years later, and realizes with an unpleasant jolt that she herself almost exactly resembles the dead girl. As Frances draws a golden net around the unwary artist, Faith begins to wonder uneasily why she was chosen for this project, why her employer seems intent on confiding all her secrets to her, and what, exactly, lies beneath the surface of Frances Griffin's public life. A truly wonderful twistnear the end transforms this creation from lively entertainment to gasp-provoking, attention-grabbing imbroglio. Those few among Hitchcock's characters who aren't charming, unusual, and thoroughly likable are certainly overflowing with surprises. Pure pleasure for psychological-suspense fans.
New York Post
Hitchock’s mysteries are savvy social satires and well-constructed clocks, ticking down to nail-biting climaxes.Dominick Dunne
A sleek and villainous tale.