I had a hard time getting into this book and did not finish due to poor writing and narration by the main subject

Stella Da Silva is an art conservator working at Claiborne’s Auction House in New York City. “Las Meninas” by Diego Velazquez is sent in to get some work done. Stella deals with insomnia and prefers to work at night, and while working on the painting, she hears screams coming from her boss’ office. She goes to investigate but the screaming stops, so she heads back to her studio where she finds a dead body and gets chased down by the murderer. When she returns to her studio with the police, the body and the painting are gone. She is a prime suspect and gets fired, so she decides to investigate and figure out what’s really going on. But the murderer is still tracking her and doesn’t want her to figure it out...

Pros: I was drawn in by “Las Meninas” because Velazquez is a favorite painter of mine, and I’ve seen the painting in person at the Prado Museum. It was really interesting to learn about the art world, the science of paintings and paint mixing, and art conservation. The plot was fast-paced and kept me wanting to find out more.

Cons: The mystery never really fully resolves, which was SUPER frustrating. Too many f-words. Many characters had a very casual attitude about having sex with people they just met. Not usually very descriptive, but it just bugged me how people were just sleeping with people they hardly knew.

My biggest complaint is Stella was kind of an idiot. Even though she knows someone is trying to kill her, she more than once walks straight into extremely dangerous situations without telling anyone or taking backup, and she has no excuse for this because a cop is sort of helping her investigate and is sleeping with her, so she’s got the perfect resource for protection. She should have been murdered more than once. Especially the time she went to see if she had correctly identified the hit men, saw them through the window and realized how violent they were, and rather than get as far away as fast as possible. She walks around the corner and sits down on the ground to compose herself... and then is found and captured. Actually, nothing about this entire section of the book makes sense. The hit men lock her in an office for awhile, where she’s able to find clues in spite of the fact that there’s a ton of files and quite frankly garbage in this room and she doesn’t even really know what she’s looking for. Then the guys take her out and try to kill her (rather than just doing it when they found her snooping? I’m not sure why they waited). She’s able to escape, but later in the book, she and the cop have some VHS tapes they need to watch, so they go back to the office she was held hostage in because she remembered there was a VCR there. Seriously?! That’s the ONLY VCR in the entirety of New York City?! Much of the clue-finding or connecting did not make sense.

This is probably 1 1/2 stars, but I bumped it up to 2 for “Las Meninas.” Thanks to NetGalley for the free ebook.

Stella needs to find answers. An art conservator is not the usual protagonist for a thriller/mystery and that''s what sets this apart. It's twisty and you will learn something about the business of art.

Suspenseful mysteries are my favorite! There were so many twists and turns and I was surprised over and over. Highly recommended!

Enjoyable New York-based innocent dragged into criminal conspiracy. Nice backgrounding on the protaganist, scope for sequels.

Although I received an unedited copy for review, I felt like this book was for very young readers. The characters had no sustenance and I literally rolled my eyes in some scenes because it was just too unrealistic. Maybe the author was pushing it towards a deadline. It just wasn't my cup of tea.

This book is an odd combination of Stieg Larsson and Dan Brown. It works on some levels but not all the time.

White Lead is an interesting and quick read but sometimes I felt the book was a bit over-complicated. Heroine Stella is not fully developed and has a lucky streak a million miles long since that girl gets away from would-be murderers like a ninja!

Overall the book is a mystery with some humor thrown in. For hardcore Stieg Larsson fans, the book will be a huge let down. However, taken for what it is, White Lead is a fun read. As someone who does work in the art world, I enjoyed the mystery surrounding the stolen artwork. It added yet another intriguing layer to an already interesting tale.

Don't try to compare this book to blockbuster novels. Just enjoy it!

This book started off really fast paced and very interesting. Somewhere in the middle I got lost in the main characters thoughts, and it lagged. She is amazingly capable of surviving any situation! I loved all the art history information.

I kept trying with this book but I was unable to connect with the story or the characters. I did not read the entire book and will not be posting a review.

This book started out strongly, building what promised to be a mystery filled with twists and turns. After the first few chapters, though, everything became somewhat predictable, which tends to happen in an "all of these random occurrences are somewhat related" plot structure. The sections of the novel I enjoyed the most focused on the descriptions of art restoration. That's an area I don't know much about so I found that topic most interesting to read about than the mystery part of the book.

Interesting read but a little predictable. Characters pretty well developed and I liked the guy mixing the colors in his shop.

I enjoyed this well-plotted mystery and enjoyed the specifics of the practice of the art conservationist protagonist. Nicely developed characters and a fresh POV.

I received this from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

White Lead by Susan Daitch was very fast-paced and exciting. Stella's world gets turned upside down when she discovers a body in her lab at a renowned art house. Things get worse when she ends up fired and considered the police's main suspect in the death of said body. With no job and plenty of time on her hands, Stella starts trying to track down information on her own to save her career and hopefully avoid jail time. Her pursuits lead her right where she doesn't want to be, in the targets of some very dangerous people who have a lot to hide. Will Stella save face and live to tell the tale? I couldn't wait to find out! A job well done!