Serial killer or curse?
Fliss and Izzy are attending an artist retreat to delve deeper into their personal interests. They meet other teens who love different types of artistic expression and enjoy the social interaction until everything comes to a halt, when a murder occurs. Immediately, Fliss uses her sleuthing skills to find the suspect and to understand the connection between now and the 1911 murders that revolved around four paintings the killer created to immortalize his victims. He also created a self portrait that shows up at an estate sale after being lost for decades. Rumors about a curse being released when the painting was found are rampant and causing people to panic. Will Fliss be able to stop the murders before history repeats itself?
Likes/dislikes: Such a fascinating premise! I enjoyed this mystery and I didn’t want the book to end. The writing and background building pulled me in and made this story extremely interesting! Fliss is a natural detective and her friendship with Izzy balances them both out. The debate over whether or not the painting is cursed added a nice touch of supernatural spookiness.
Language: R for 53 swears (god, damn, hell) and 2 f-words.
Mature Content: PG-13 for teens smoking joints and being drugged unknowingly in their drinks.
Violence: PG-13 for bloody deaths.
Ethnicity: Mixed ethnicity includes white, Irish, British-Korean, and Italian. Noah has olive skin and Fliss is white.
The Thought Spot 