I read and enjoyed Michael Jecks' historical mysteries and was curious about this one, a contemporary.
There's a solid mystery featuring an artist, Nick, and a funny and complex plot that kept me hooked.
I was surprised by the twists, enjoyed the plot and the well developed characters.
I look forward to reading the next one.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this arc, all opinions are mine

My thanks to Severn House for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘Portrait of a Murder’ by Michael Jecks.

This is Book 1 in Jecks’ new contemporary mystery series titled The Art of Murder.

It features Nick Morris, a classic struggling artist, who paints pet portraits to pay his bills. He dreams of a big commission that will guarantee a more comfortable life. As a result he agrees to paint the reluctant, hot-tempered hotelier, Jason Robart.

While staying at Jason’s hotel and doing preliminary sketches he finds Jason dead from a shotgun blast to the head. No one apart from Jason’s girlfriend, Elizabeth, seems upset by the death. Nick certainly isn’t happy as he now won’t be paid for the commission. 

It also turns out that Jason owed money to everyone - including some unsavoury Russians. Then Elizabeth goes missing. Nick is concerned though so is Jason’s unsavoury business partner as well as the Russians! All this results in Nick being in trouble and so he reluctantly undertakes a spot of amateur sleuthing. He often reflects that he should have stuck to painting cats . . . No further details to avoid spoilers.

I have been enjoying Jeck’s historical mysteries for some years especially his Tudor series featuring the rascally Jack Blackjack. There’s no doubt that Jecks is a skilled storyteller of mysteries no matter if the setting is historic or contemporary.

I found Nick Morris a very accessible lead and enjoyed this mystery, especially the wry humour woven throughout. After this promising opening I am looking forward to the next Art of Murder mystery.

Nick Morris is a decent enough painter, but as you might expect, mainly painting portraits of beloved cats does make it tricky to make ends meet. When he is asked to paint the portrait of Jason Robart, a Devon-based hotelier, he takes the commission, despite the fact that he doesn’t particularly like the man. And as he gets to know him, he decides that he likes him even less. And he’s not the only one…
When Nick finds Jason’s body, it seems clear that he committed suicide by shooting himself in the face. But as he wasn’t exactly acting suicidal, and there is no sign of a note, Nick isn’t convinced this isn’t a case of murder. There are plenty of people who might want Jason dead – his girlfriend who Nick has taken a shine to for one, but also some sinister business associates – but what exactly is Nick going to do? He’s a painter, not a detective…
Michael Jecks, friend of the blog and the blogger, has made his name writing historical fiction, such as the Last Templar mysteries or more recently the Jack Blackjack series, but this, the first book in a new series, is right up to date in the modern era. Yes, there is a substantial part set in Devon – some things don’t change – but this is a new direction for the author and a really interesting one to boot.
The idea of an artist as sleuth is an interesting one. The notion that an artist is an observant person, and notably being able to stare at someone for hours on end as they paint them, makes them a logical choice as an investigator. Jecks realises quite rightly though that an artist wouldn’t necessarily suddenly start investigating a murder, so finds ways to make Nick inveigled more and more into the criminous goings-on.
This means that the plot takes a surprising change of format in the second half of the book, starting off as what feels as if it’s going to be a traditional whodunit, but takes on a much more noir feel in the second half. As regular readers will know, that’s not my favourite genre, but this works very well, partly the contrast to the opening section and partly the sense that Nick is getting more and more trapped in something that is out of his control. There is still a whodunit surprise element to the story, although I did have a bit of a problem with one aspect of that revelation, but the overall tale works wonderfully well.
This is a promising start to a series featuring a fresh lead character. Looking forward to the next outing.

I was looking forward to reading this one, however it wasn’t for me, took me a while to get into and unfortunately I didn’t finish it.

Nick is a struggling artist who is really down on his luck , until he is asked to paint the unlikeable Jason Robart.
Jason is a hotelier with an ugly temper and a mean streak who manages to upset most of the people he encounters.
The story that follows involves huge amounts of money , lies , guns , Russians and a dash of Colombians too.
The story is ok but it lacked something and it didn’t grab my interest liked I hoped it would.
Thanks to NetGalley and Severn House .

This was not the book for me. I struggled to connect to the protagonist and the story did not grab my attention. If you like a more gritty, dark version of a cozy mystery this might be of interest to you.

Nick Morris is a divorced Artist living in a small flat in London. He paints mainly treasured family cats for their owners.
He is approached by a lawyer Peter Thorogood. He asks Nick to travel down to Devon to a privately owned hotel. It is owned by his partner Jason Robart. Jason lives with a young woman named Elizabeth. She wants to commission a painting of Jason to be displayed in the hotel.
Although Jason is not keen he reluctantly agrees. Nick is given a room in the hotel and starts to sketch his reluctant subject.
Nick learns that most of the locals hate Jason. He has tempted them with investment schemes and all have lost their money.
Jason's latest scheme is building holiday homes in Columbia. At the village pub are two dark skinned looking men - are they Columbians? The London Russian mafia are also keen to talk to Jason.
Nick believes that Elizabeth is being physically hurt by Jason. She is very beautiful and desirable and Nick falls for her.
When Jason is found dead it is suspected suicide. But Jason is not the suicidal type! Also the money investrments have disappeared and so has Elizabeth!
Nick soon finds the police, the russians and possibly the columbians interested in him. How has he got into this mess? How can he survive?
A lively thriller which keeps you guessing. A good read. You learn all about how an artist views his subject and about colours and tones. Interesting.

I thought the cover design looked eye-catching and interesting.

I found the protagonist amusing, and the book had a general light-hearted tone. The story itself was entertaining, but I found some of the characters a little bit unlikeable, and there was a lot of profanity that I found a little bit unnecessary at times.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for a free copy to review.

This was a bit of an odd one for me. There were aspects of it I genuinely did not enjoy; the narrator main character is a bit of a sad sack, going through a desperately rough patch both personally and professionally, and I can't say I liked him a whole lot, in general. Really, it's another one of those books where just about everyone is unlikeable, or outright horrible. And the casual violence and inclusion of Russian bad guys are elements that quickly bore me in any book.

But it's a book I'm glad I finished. It's not too often that I read about an artist presented like this, for some reason. I loved the moments when Nick lost himself in a drawing, or sighed and sat down to finally work on one of his pet portrait commissions (been there, done that). This aspect of the art world is familiar to me, almost homey, as opposed to what we're usually shown, the glitz and snobbery.

The mystery of the book - who killed the abhorrent subject of the portrait that was going to keep Nick financially afloat for a while, and which of the many motives was the why - had enough twists and turns to keep me reading. But I'll be honest - it was the art that really held my interest. I'm not sure if I'll pursue the series - if I do, it'll be for that.

The usual disclaimer: I received this book via Netgalley for review.

Amateur Sleuth Status..
Artist Nick has a life that seems to be a constant effort. His work just about pays the bills - he just needs that one big break, that one commission that will escalate him to the big time. As such, his decision to agree to paint unlikeable, bad tempered Jason Robart is almost made for him. He could never have foreseen the series of bizarre and murderous events that will follow this decision - nor his newly found amateur sleuth status. A blast of fresh air in this enjoyable, entertaining and well written mystery with a frantically chaotic plot populated with a deftly drawn cast of characters and lashings of humour. The first in what is sure to be a very successful series.

Having read all of the Sir Baldwin Furnshill series with great enjoyment, I was very much looking forward to reading this first book in a new series. I was therefore unprepared for what was, for me, really an uninteresting read.

The concept was interesting but the story gradually became a complicated tangle that resulted in my putting the book aside over and over.

This was just ok. Maybe Jecks’ idea of a contemporary mystery is just not for me. But I will be reading any and all of his historical mysteries.

Word of advice, if your first day with a new client a fight breaks out because they don’t pay their bills…get your money upfront. Secondly, run. If not you may be faced with over the top violence, unethical business dealings, shady Russians and Colombian, rape, suicide/ murder plus so much more. I’m exhausted.

Not my idea of escapist reading. It is just too much.

I have read all of Michael Jecks Sir Baldwin Furnshill books and loved them all but was slightly apprehensive about a book written in a modern-day era. I was therefore slightly surprised just how good this book was. I enjoyed the flawed main character and his observations of how people looked and could be conceived as a backdrop for an artist, in normal everyday settings such as a pub was a revelation as this was not something that I had ever taken the time to consider before.
I really enjoyed how all the characters had a back story that interlinked and that the murderer was one of them and not someone that had no part in the story until the last minute. All in all, this was a really good book, if I had one complaint and it is only a small complaint, in my opinion the number of descriptions of sexual longing from the main character Nick towards Elizabeth was not needed in an otherwise thrilling murder mystery book.