THE CANVAS KILLINGS by Elise Janes

What a fantastic debut crime thriller from Elise Janes (Jett Books).

Cover art: tick (by Kylie Pye Design)
Setting:     tick (primarily Melbourne, one of my favourite cities)
Mystery:   tick (What is Sam’s secret? What happened to Catriona? Are there more paintings?)
Crime:       tick (eight deaths … and counting?)
Subject:     tick (Murder, for reasons most original. The Australian art scene, delightfully revealed)
Style:          tick (considered word choices, beautiful rhythm)

Bending, she inhales her husband’s lingering scent: old sweat fights with old cologne, brandy tangles with shiraz and there’s still the stale yet comforting odour of the Cuban cigars he’d given up ten years ago.

Nothing is quite what it seems but … Sooner or later, doesn’t everything rise to the surface?

The Canvas Killings has got it all and I adored it. Fast-paced. Original. Surprising. Not easily forgotten.