Greetings from Whisper Cove, New York, everyone! My name is Chloe Abbington, and I am an artist. Well, all of my family are artists, so the fact I am isn’t unusual. However, I am the only one who decided to venture out in the world in hopes of making it big in New York City. My parents think the idea of monetary gain for your artistic endeavors is too materialistic. Easy for them to say. They inherited a trust fund from Granddad Abbington. But this was after spending a couple of decades working for a living, needing to sell their art to survive, so I can’t judge them too much. Anyway, I tried my dream in the Big Apple, aspiring to one day showcase my work in one of the posh galleries where people would come and be wowed. After two years, spending my days clerking in an art supply store and nights cruising the galleries, meeting with several successful artists, hoping to spark some interest in my work, I became discouraged.

That’s when my sister Izzie called. She begged me to come and help open her paint party business in our home town, situated along Chautauqua Lake. Artisan Alley has a string of craft shops and Izzie’s Paint with a View would be the latest to open. So, I packed my bags, emptied my apartment, and hit the road. Leaving behind a failed relationship was easy. Putting my NYC dream on hold was not. With my little canine buddy, Max, in tow, I drove us west to return home, hoping for a fresh start and looking forward to being with my family once again. I had optimism in my heart and plenty of energy to help Izzie make this new venture a success.

Running a paint party business isn’t really so difficult, but it does take plenty of work. The idea is to attract customers who’d like to enjoy an evening of conversation, wine, and hopefully, with our instruction, create paintings they’ll love. The themes we’d choose were endless. Holidays were a big favorite. Painting snowmen, Christmas trees, pumpkins, Thanksgiving turkeys, or simply a sunset over the lake. We even scheduled a Paint Your Pet event where people would send in photos of their pets. Then, Izzie and I would sketch them out so the owners could paint them. Of course, there was a lot of busy work and prep. We needed to make sure we had plenty of supplies, like paints, brushes, and canvases; buy and schedule ads in the newspaper; hit the streets and hand out fliers, sell tickets, and, well, that list was a long one.

I was so excited for the first event. We had everything ready, checked and double checked. The theme was for shop owners to paint their own shop. Izzie had the brilliant idea to bring several of the merchants together in hopes of smoothing the tense atmosphere that had taken hold of so many in town to the point they often snapped at each other. The source of that tension was none other than Fiona Gimble, the columnist who wrote for the Whisper Cove Gazette. You could say Fiona had a poisonous pen, often writing about the business owners in a way that angered them or even cost them business. Sadly, plenty of readers believed what she wrote. Anyway, the evening’s gathering was intended to mend feelings, but it did not go as planned. I should clarify it was the part after the event that didn’t go as planned.

Unfortunately, Izzie had an emergency and couldn’t be at there that evening. So, I along with the shop’s assistant, Willow, ran the show. I offered to finish clean up and let Willow leave a few minutes early. I really didn’t mind. I wasn’t in a hurry to get home and would rather keep busy. As I stepped outside to take out the trash, my foot stumbled on something lumpy. I don’t have to tell you, I screamed. Anyone would scream if they found a dead body. And I did. Fiona Gimble with a painting knife stabbed in her neck. Yep, a body behind the shop, stabbed with a painting knife. It didn’t take much of a leap for me to guess what would happen next. Me plus a dead body equaled murder suspect. This was definitely not the way I imagined my fresh start to look. Yeah, welcome to Whisper Cove where even a murder could happen.

A Brush with Murder, A Paint by Murder Mystery #1
Genre: Cozy
Release: October 2021
Purchase Link

A quiet lakeside town in western New York state is the new home of Manhattan artist Chloe Abbington and the backdrop for murder in this series debut by Bailee Abbott.

For Chloe Abbington, the transition from fine art painter in New York City to painting-event business owner in charming Whisper Cove is more than a little jarring. But when poison-pen journalist Fiona Gimble writes a viciously negative review of the newly opened Paint with a View, Chloe learns that critics are the same everywhere. And when she finds Fiona’s body behind her shop with a painting knife in her neck, Chloe realizes that this picture-perfect town offers anything but peace and quiet.

Suddenly, bustling Artisan Alley is a crime scene, and Chloe is the prime suspect. Her sister and business partner, Izzie, isn’t much help–she’s busy running the shop, and besides, she has secrets of her own. As shrewd Detective Barrett tries to paint her into a corner, Chloe soon finds that Fiona had plenty of enemies. The Whisper Cove Gazette columnist wielded her pen like a sword, slicing and dicing just about every shop owner in the lakeside town.

Chloe sets out to prove that she’s been framed for Fiona’s murder. But she’d better learn the fine art of detection quickly, before the real killer paints the town red again. Otherwise, she may end up trading in her paint smock for an orange jumpsuit. . .or a green burial plot.

About the author
Bailee Abbott is a native Ohioan who spends her days plotting murder and writing mysteries. She’s a member of Sisters in Crime as well as of International Thriller Writers. Bailee lives with her husband and furry friend Max in the quiet suburbs of Green, Ohio. Visits to Bemus Point, a town along Chautauqua Lake in southwest New York inspired the setting for the Paint By Murder mystery series. She also writes the Sierra Pines B&B mystery series under the name Kathryn Long.

All comments are welcomed.