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Elaine Viets | The Art of Living
May 3, 2016
I don't enjoying looking at rich people's art and old furniture, so I'm not a
fan of most house museum tours. There's only one exception: Fort Lauderdale's Bonnet House Museum & Gardens. I can't wait for you to read
THE ART OF MURDER, my May Dead-End Job mystery. THE ART OF MURDER opens at
Bonnet House, where I worked as a volunteer greeter. Bonnet House was the colorful home of artists Evelyn and Frederic Clay Bartlett.
Evelyn took up collecting miniature orchids at age 101, and lived to be 109.
Their house was filled with light, life and color. Bonnet House was Frederic's idea of a Caribbean plantation house. It's built
around a courtyard sheltered by feathery palms and bright with flowers. The
house has whimsical touches: gilded baroque columns swirl around the drawing
room doors, balconies are frosted with New Orleans wrought iron, and Evelyn's
collection of brightly painted wooden animals, including giraffes and ostriches,
are everywhere. 
Evelyn loved animals, and Bonnet House still has swans and a troupe of adorable
monkeys living on the grounds. The monkeys, the last of Evelyn's pets, escaped
from a bar. Frederic built Evelyn the charming Bamboo Bar and Shell Museum as a birthday
present. Most men won't even fetch their wives a drink, but Evelyn had a
custom-built bar. Evelyn drank exotic Rangpur lime cocktails, made from maple
syrup, rum, and Rangpur limes she grew in the gardens. 
Vibrant Bonnet House seemed the perfect place to start Helen's fifteenth
adventure. Helen and Margery are touring the mansion-turned-museum when they see
Annabel Lee Griffin, a young, talented artist, at a museum painting class.
Later, they also see Annabel's deadly end. Helen is hired to investigate her
death. Was Annabel killed by her jealous husband? Her best friend? A lover from
her bohemian past? Helen has her own brush with death as she searches for this
artful killer. 
Next time you're in Fort Lauderdale, visit the Bonnet House museum at bonnethouse.org. It's even
prettier than these pictures from the website. See how Frederic and Evelyn
mastered the art of living.
Elaine Viets is the author of 29 mysteries in three series,
both hard-boiled and cozy: the Dead-End Job mysteries, the Josie Marcus Mystery
Shopper mysteries, and the Francesca Vierling mysteries. She has won the
Anthony, Agatha and Lefty Awards.
WEBSITE | ElaineVietsMysteryWriter on Facebook and
@evmysterywriter
From the national bestselling author of Checked Out,
Helen Hawthorne must pose as a painter at Fort Lauderdale’s famous Bonnet House
Musuem to catch an artful killer . . .The art world is a happening place—but a brush with death shouldn’t be in the
picture. Unfortunately that’s just what happens to Helen Hawthorne and her
friend Margery. While touring gorgeous Bonnet House, a mansion-turned-museum,
they observe a painting class and note an up-and-coming artist. When they later
see her deadly end, Helen is hired to canvas the crime scene—undercover, of course. Sketchy suspects lurk in the victim’s bohemian past. Was the promising painter
killed by her jealous husband? Her best friend? A rival using her artful wiles?
With her husband Phil busy setting a trap for a gold thief, it’s up to Helen to
paint this killer into a corner . . .
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