"[Ryder's] prose is confident and fashions a credible world, peopled by intellectually sophisticated artists and art connoisseurs.... To read the book is to move through a maze that delivers twists, turns, revelations, and surprises."

      —Sue Monk Kidd, bestselling author of The Secret Life of Bees

      "Sophisticates of the contemporary art scene show a lethally sordid side in this superbly crafted murder mystery. . . . Lucid prose, snappy dialogue, and sharp characterization combine to limn a credibly realized world where life imitates art, facades are deceiving, and forgeries cast doubt on seemingly certain truths. The unraveling of the mysteries . . . turns on perfectly prepared surprises, unexpected twists, and well-orchestrated plotlines that will have readers guessing, like the characters themselves, until the final paragraphs."

      "What a deft hand newcomer Ryder uses in telling this tale of an innocent muse caught in a web of artistic obsession. No one is wholly innocent, though, and every character has secrets in this extraordinarily well-plotted tale that holds its final revelations for the very last page."