Painted

Description

The Antiques Roadshow, if Stephen King was the host... When art appraiser Anita Cassatt is sent to catalogue the extensive collection of reclusive artist Leo Kubin, it isn't the chill of the secluded house making her shiver, it's the silent audience of portraits clustered on every wall, watching her. The lawyer didn't share the dead artist's instructions for handling his art, and Anita and her team start work ignorant of the instructions designed to keep them safe. Safe from the art. There are secrets hiding in Kubin's house. But as Anita and her team discover, some secrets don't want to stay hidden. Described as Caravaggio meets Poltergeist - Painted is a gothic horror novel with a decent serving of psychological unease and a healthy fear of the dark. Perfect for lovers of Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House. What readers are saying about Painted: "Refreshing to encounter this subtle, delicate narrative where horror peeps slyly out..." "Painted is an effective haunted house book, favoring tension and subtlety over outright violence and kills." "McKenzie does an incredible job in the characterization of the people in her novel. With each and every one, I came away with the feeling that I knew them--down to even the secrets they kept hidden from each other." "This novel literally took my breath away in places." "The plot is sensationally addictive and the creepy factor kept me alert page after page." "No gore or cheap scares here, this is a subtle and delicate chiller written in the spirit of a Shirley Jackson novel."

A full time author, Kirsten McKenzie is a former customs officer and antiques dealer, and who has also dabbled in film and television. Her historical time-slip series - The Old Curiosity Shop Series (which includes Fifteen Postcards, The Last Letter and Telegram Home), has been described as 'Time Travellers Wife meets Far Pavilions', and 'Antiques Roadshow gone viral'. Kirsten released her bestselling gothic horror novel Painted in 2017, with her medical thriller, Doctor Perry, following in 2018. Both books hit #1 in the Canadian and Australian horror charts. Coming mid 2020 is The Forger and the Thief, Kirsten's next historical thriller, set in Florence, Italy. She had had several short stories published in anthologies around the world. And has twice been an entrant in the Ngaio Marsh Awards. She has appeared at Newcastle Noir, Hamilton Book Month, and at the NZ Book Festival. Kirsten lives in New Zealand with her husband, her daughters, two rescue cats, and can usually be found procrastinating on Twitter.

Painted is an effective haunted house book, favoring tension and subtlety over outright violence and kills. As such, this may appeal to a broader audience, both in terms of age and those who are not fans of overt gore. The truth behind the haunting is slowly revealed, along with how it ties into the many paintings in the house. In Painted, we see that the eyes are the windows to the soul, and in this case the eyes are on canvas. -The Books of Blood