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Artistic License Kindle Edition

3.8 3.8 out of 5 stars 93 ratings

After five years in a bad marriage, Annie Callaghan filed for divorce, quit her job, and began to pursue her dream of becoming an artist. But in the process, she made one very big mistake. As she tries her best to get her life back together with the help of an attractive widower, she inadvertently puts events into motion that draw her into a conspiracy involving a stolen masterpiece and murder.
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Set in Chicago, Hyzy's smooth, well-paced debut features a vulnerable but resilient heroine, among other credible and diverting characters. Newly embarked on her career as a muralist, Annie Callaghan is dismayed to discover that she's pregnant, having been seduced by her soon-to-be-exhusband, Gary Randall. A charming cad, Gary gets Annie to bail him out of jail and soon moves back in with her. Meanwhile, Annie has agreed to paint a wall at Millie's Ice Cream Parlour, an old-fashioned soda fountain, for the attractive new owner, Sam Morgan, who proves to be a most sympathetic friend as well as employer. When a breezy customer of Millie's, Gina DeChristopher, hires Annie to paint a playroom for her sons in her elegant house, Gina even offers the professional services of her husband, an intimidating lawyer with a substantial art collection. The tension builds with the theft of a Dürer drawing worth $10 million on its way to the Chicago Art Institute, a kidnapping and a murder whose chief suspect is Annie herself. Romance and cozy fans will particularly go for this adroitly plotted tale.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Hyzy's debut novel is at least 50 pages too long, yet through the grace of her compelling heroine, it manages to keep readers' attention until the end. Annie Callaghan is striking out in new directions--divorcing her loser husband, Gary, and starting a new career as a mural painter. In a lucky break, she gets a painting job near her home in the Chicago suburbs at an ice cream store that just happens to be owned by a hunk named Sam. Breaking the good-fortune bubble, Annie discovers that a drunken one-nighter with her ex has resulted in pregnancy. And to make matters worse, Gary is killed while trying to rob one of Annie's wealthy clients. Although it's hard to believe someone as pretty and cool as Annie would have become involved with a lowlife like Gary, her credibility is bolstered by her continued desire to divorce him--even after finding out she is carrying his child. And while Annie's romance with Sam is predictable, Hyzy makes it fun to watch. Watch for more Annie Callaghan novels; this could become a fine series. Jenny McLarin
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00XMDV466
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Crossroad Press; Gordian Knot Digital edition (May 13, 2015)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ May 13, 2015
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 2589 KB
  • Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 283 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    3.8 3.8 out of 5 stars 93 ratings

About the author

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Julie Hyzy
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Julie Hyzy is a New York Times bestselling and Anthony Award-winning author. Her novels include the standalone techno-thriller, VIRTUAL SABOTAGE (October 23, 2018; Calexia Press), the White House Chef mystery series, the Manor of Murder mystery series and the Alex St. James mystery series. A Chicago native and graduate of Loyola University, she lives in the Chicagoland area with her husband.

COMING OCTOBER, 2018

Virtual Sabotage

MANOR HOUSE MYSTERIES

Grace Under Pressure

Grace Interrupted

Grace Among Thieves

Grace Takes Off

Grace Against The Clock

Grace Cries Uncle

Grace Sees Red

Grace to the Finish

WHITE HOUSE CHEF MYSTERIES

State of the Onion

Hail to the Chef

Eggsecutive Orders

Buffalo West Wing

Affairs of Steak

Fonduing Fathers

Home of the Braised

All the President's Menus

Foreign Eclairs

Short story, "White Rabbit" in MANHATTAN MAYHEM, Mystery Writers of America's 70th Anniversary anthology, edited by Mary Higgins Clark (June, 2015)

Originally published in hardcover books now available on KINDLE:

Artistic License (standalone romantic suspense)

Deadly Blessings (first in Alex St. James series)

Deadly Interest (second in Alex St. James series)

Also on KINDLE

Playing with Matches (decidedly *not* cozy)

Made for Murder (short stories)

Writing Dialogue

Customer reviews

3.8 out of 5 stars
3.8 out of 5
93 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Reviewed in the United States on December 10, 2011
If you are looking for a quick and entertaining read, this is the story for you. The story starts out interesting, and continues on. I won't give it away, but the fact that the first sentence starts the way it does pulled me right in. The character development is great. The author doesn't rush descriptions, and keeps everything at a great pace so I felt like I was really getting to know these characters pretty well. Pacing was key in why I'm rating this story the way I am.

I feel like Annie has a lot to learn in life. During the story, she tends to make some decisions that most people would slap some sense in to her for. She seems to trust her ex even though he has done so much in his past. I feel that most women would not feel this way, but that's also one of the reasons I enjoyed this book. It was a dimension I'm not used to so it pulled me away from reality, even if it was just for a bit.

Pacing, as I said already, was key. So many stories seemed either rushed or drawn out, but this was a quick, light hearted read that I really enjoyed. I will be looking in to more stories by this author, and I definitely recommend that you read this. You won't be disappointed if you are in to quick, and not too complicated stories that can still hold your interest until the end.
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Reviewed in the United States on August 31, 2013
At first I was disappointed with the main character Annie Callaghan. Right off the bat the reader learns that she has some flaws. Getting drunk and letting the husband you are trying to divorce get you into the sack and get you pregnant does not a smart woman make. And then bailing this same man out from a burglary charge and allowing him and his sleazy friend to move into your home gets big points taken away also. However, once the story began to flow it got a lot better. Annie is trying to ditch her lowlife husband, Gary, and make it on her own as an artist painting murals for money. When she is hired by Sam Morgan to paint a mural in his ice cream parlor she has no idea it will lead to future love and danger. Sam sees an attractive woman needing help and is soon drawn to Annie. It is through an incident at Sam's parlor that Annie meets Gina DeChristopher, the wife of well to do attorney Richard DeChristopher. Gina commissions Annie to paint a mural in the children's room of her palatial home. Richard DeChristopher is into some shady dealings in stolen art and when Annie's husband worms his way into the DeChristopher mansion with the lame excuse of helping Annie, bad things are bound to happen. Theft turns to murder and innocent Annie is stuck in the middle of it all and soon her life is threatened as well. On the whole Annie's character flaws didn't completely bog down the story and it turned out to be a good action thriller with some romance as well, so I can recommend it as a fast-paced entertaining read.
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Reviewed in the United States on November 28, 2011
I really enjoyed this cozy little tale, and loved how the characters played off of each other in the beginning. I even liked (at first) the apparently bumbling low-life Gary and his nasty friend Pete as a foil against the main character, Annie. I did become quite frustrated with Annie as the story went on and she kept giving in to him. Seriously, you're going to let your thieving ex into the home of a rich client with lots of goodies, just telling him to turn his back when you're entering the security code? By her lack of surprise at having to bail him out of jail for burglary at the beginning of the book, you get the feeling she knows how shady he is within the first few pages. Yet she seems to forget that throughout the book, and I have a hard time understanding why. She continues to make it clear that she no longer wants him in her life. She's divorcing him, she's focusing on her business which he had laughed off, and she's getting involved in a new romance (love Sam, by the way!). But we all know that sometimes it's hard to shake people out of your life, and Annie's a nice person. It was a good story, with a little romance and a lot of intrigue.
2 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on March 17, 2012
For the record, I couldn't finish this book, so this review is also, necessarily, incomplete. When the book began I liked the heroine, but the further the story progressed, the more I found her to be unforgivably lackadaisical about her own safety. I'm a resident of a major metropolis, so maybe my level of street-savvy isn't the norm, but I'd think that any halfway-aware twenty-first-century woman knows that you change the locks after a discordant breakup from a deadbeat man. And no one, not even the average four-year-old, will take you seriously when you say "Next time you shouldn't do this, or I'll be really mad, and I mean it!" I know, books need conflict to produce drama, but this heroine created all of her drama herself: she might as well have worn a sign that said "Professional Victim: Please Kick Me". I stopped reading when I was about 40% through, and I'm not usually one to bail on a book. I wanted to persevere, but my palm was itching with the need to slap some sense into the protagonist. So, Ms. Hyzy, I think you're capable of producing good work, you have a nice style, but please don't insult the intelligence of your readers this way.
3 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on December 12, 2011
Okay, it's always helpful when someone lets you know that a book is R rated for bedroom scenes. When I know this, I skip getting a book. This book was clean up til about 70%, so I thought that it was safe to keep in my library. Too bad. This author is very good at creating plot and keeping your interested in the story. She would do well to learn from Mary Higgins Clark, who keeps detailed bedroom scenes out of her writing and still manages to be a best-selling author, go figure! Julie could be a great author for the masses out there who love a good read minus the sordid sexuality! I was able at least to skip the several pages the one incident took up, and enjoyed the ending!
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