Death on Canvas

Two missing masterpieces scatter a trail of death in Book One of the Jessie O'Bourne art mystery series. Jessie, accompanied by her huge orange tomcat, Jack, returns to Sage Bluff to house sit for her dad and judge an art competition. She is painting the morning light on a golden haystack, and absentmindedly brushes a note of turquoise onto the canvas, echoing a spot of color she sees . Curious about the lovely spot of blue, the artist walks over to discover a shoe. The mate is still on the foot of a dying Native American girl crammed between the hay bales. She whispers to Jessie that her attacker was a cop. The story becomes personal when old flame, Sheriff Russell Bonham, reveals that the girl had been attacked while on her way to speak to Jessie's family about two missing Thomas Moran masterpieces worth millions. The paintings disappeared nearly a hundred years ago from St. Benedict's Mission School. Right after the unsolved murder of Jessie's great aunt Kate. Having no idea who to trust, Jessie teams up with Arvid Abrahmsen, a huge Norwegian cop, and FBI art theft agent, Grant Kennedy, to search for the lost artwork and solve the murders, both the past and the present. Death on Canvas is not a cliche "who-done-it" light mystery. It has unexpected twists and turns, art tips, humor and glorious description of both the past and present.

Cherry is a professional artist living in Idaho and penning the Jessie O’Bourne art mystery series in her elusive free time. Like her main character, she paints primarily western and wildlife subject matter, travels to art shows, and teaches workshops. Raised in rural Montana in an area similar to the Sage Bluff in her novels, she now lives in Idaho with her husband and several pudgy cats.