The Lost Artist

Book excerpt: Chicago performance artist Rose Caffrey is desperate to sell her sister's nineteenth-century farmhouse. She's haunted by her sister's death from a fall inside the house. But when Rose discovers three murals in an upstairs bedroom depicting strange images of Native Americans and bizarre nineteenth-century landscapes, she becomes obsessed with knowing the artist's identity and the meaning of the murals. Buried for over one hundred and seventy-five years under wallpaper and paint, the murals hint at secrets tied to the old house, the artist, and the nearby 1836 Trail of Tears Camp Ground Cemetery. Only one mural remains to be uncovered. And Rose is convinced the hidden mural holds the key to deciphering the other three.What the last mural reveals launches Rose and art restorer, Alex Hague, on a quest for one of the greatest lost art treasures of sixteenth century America. What Rose never expects to find are crimes going back over four hundred years with the potential to transform American history -- if she can escape the fate of the other lost artists before her.