Portrait of Deadly Excess is a work of literary suspense tracing a
volatile investigator's descent into a stark world of ulterior
motives and twisted obsessions-not all of which are his own. At the
center of the action is Van Hazard-a freelance insurance
investigator specializing in claims involving lost and stolen art.
Hazard, a former NYPD detective and an established artist in his
own right, is a man at war with himself and a flawed world he
largely disproves of. Half white, half black, refusing to deny one
part of himself in order to lose himself in the other, Hazard is
the consummate outsider with equal claim to two different worlds
but at home in neither one. He's a stylish, resourceful loner whose
wry wit and warped sense of humor almost obscures the haunted
avenger within. Hazard is shaken when he loses two close friends to
a mysterious fire he was too late on the scene to prevent. He's
intrigued, however, by the tale told by the lone survivor-a
stranger he pulled from the flames-that a picture of a dead man
came to life and committed murder. Hazard puts his career and
reputation on the line to unravel the case and discover the truth,
and soon descends into an ever-shifting landscape of duplicity and
deception as he struggles to come to terms with a famous painter's
quest to cheat death and justice with his art. Portrait of Deadly
Excess is a brooding tale in which the immovable object of a
formidable, sometimes reckless investigator determined to settle
the books on a string of bizarre murders is matched against the
irresistible force of a celebrated artist intoxicated with the
strange power of his art. Hazard's character is an edgy cross
between Chandler's resourceful Philip Marlowe and Conrad's haunted
Kurtz, and is in relentless pursuit of a charismatic painter equal
parts Warhol, Faust, and Dorian Gray obsessed with giving new
meaning to achieving immortality through one's art.
General
Imprint: |
X Libris
|
Country of origin: |
United States |
Release date: |
July 2009 |
First published: |
July 2009 |
Authors: |
D. Jeffrey Ostling
|
Dimensions: |
229 x 152 x 18mm (L x W x T) |
Format: |
Hardcover - Sewn / Cloth over boards / With dust jacket
|
Pages: |
254 |
ISBN-13: |
978-1-4415-0708-2 |
Categories: |
Books >
Fiction >
Genre fiction >
Adventure / thriller >
General
|
LSN: |
1-4415-0708-6 |
Barcode: |
9781441507082 |
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