Blue Smoke and Murder

By Elizabeth Lowell

Jill Breck was just doing her job as a river guide when she saved the life of Lane Faroe, son of two of St. Kilda Consulting's premier operators. But when a string of ominous events—including a mysterious fire that kills her great-aunt and a furor in the Western art world raised by a dozen Breck family paintings—culminates in a threat to her life, Jill reluctantly calls in a favor.

Zach Balfour works part-time as a consultant for St. Kilda. His expertise is gathering and analyzing information from unlikely and often dangerous sources. Though he's got the skills to be a highly effective bodyguard, being a bullet catcher isn't his preferred way to spend time.

Protecting Jill will take him into familiar territory—among a strange, savagely competitive bunch of collectors who'll do anything to stay at the top. But Jill is in deeper waters than she's ever known; as she soon discovers, the perils of running wild rivers are tame compared with the hidden dangers in the high-stakes game of art collecting.

From the cozy rooms of the Breck homestead cabin to the cold multimillion-dollar galleries of the Western art circuit, Zach and Jill must race against time to unmask a ruthless killer hidden in a blue smoke of money, threats, lies, and death. . . .

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Jul 8, 2008
• ISBN: 9780061734175

Elizabeth Lowell

New York Times bestselling author Elizabeth Lowell has more than eighty titles published to date with over twenty-four million copies of her books in print. She lives in the Sierra Nevada Mountains with her husband, with whom she writes novels under a pseudonym. Her favorite activity is exploring the Western United States to find the landscapes that speak to her soul and inspire her writing.

Reviews for Blue Smoke and Murder

[bettesbooks · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a re-read for me. Elizabeth Lowell novels are always a great escape.

[randall6hansen · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A decent thriller about lost art, art auctions, and shady dealings... all wrapped up in a series about St. Kilda consultants... who seem to have operatives that can do just about anything. A little slow at the start, but interesting perspectives on the value of art mixed in with the suspense over the what might happen to the main character -- and her inherited art collection.

[jackiecarroll-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

An exciting adventure from beginning to end, Blue Smoke and Murder is pure entertainment. I listened to the audiobook, which is expertly performed by Carol Monda. It had just the right mix of romance and adventure for my taste. This is my first book by Elizabeth Lowell, but it won't be my last.

[addictedtomorphemes · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I very much like novels written by Elizabeth Lowell, but this one was just so-so compared to her others. I thought the romantic connection between the two main players was lukewarm and as far as the suspense part of it...there is no way an organization like St. Kilda would have allowed the circumstances at the end of the book to have occurred. Unbelievable that a client of theirs would face what she did. I did enjoy the background information on the art world. This was fairly enjoyable but not spectacular by any means.

[sferguson_79 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A good book, and just like all of Lowell's works (at least those I've read), the suspense and art is great. Like many of her works, the action and operations side of the book is not quite up to the highest standards and that is all that detracts from the story. Unless you read techno-thrillers it is unlikely that you will see anything wrong or have had any hand in the operational side of things, it is unlikely that you will give this book less than five stars.

[emscape · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

An extremely suspenseful and engaging plot combined with steamy romance and fascinating characters make this fourth volume involving St. Kilda a must-read! Jill has inherited some paintings from her great aunt that someone would kill to either steal or destroy. Fortunately, she recently saved the life of the son of some top St Kilda operatives and has been assigned some help in the form of the handsome and skillful Zach. As they race around the southwest trying to stay ahead of the bad guys and prove the provenance of Jill's paintings, they also fall in lust with each other. The gripping climax is not at all overshadowed by the fact that we knew who the bad guys were all along.Elizabeth Lowell is an author I will still read, and acquire every new offering from, even though I've mostly moved on from the romance/romantic suspense genre.

[imbookingit · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I really enjoyed reading this book, but weeks afterward, the details are merging with other similar books I've read.The setup is somewhat implausible, but I can deal with that. I think that events flow fairly reasonably once you accept it. Elizabeth Lowell is good at the thriller side of the story.She's also good at the characters, which is (to me) the most important aspect of a romance novel. I enjoyed the different aspects of Jill's personality-- her career and the aspects of her personality that make her successful as a river guide; her family loyalty that calls her back to deal with her great-aunt's estate; and (of course) the part that makes her a good character in a romance novel.Zach is similarly interesting, although with somewhat less depth. Watching their relationship develop was fun.

[amf0001 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Oddly plot heavy and not romantic at all, there was little sexual tension (which Ms Lowell usually does so well) and a lot about tax wroughts and donated art.. I liked Jill Breck she was a smart, resourceful heroine. I didn't even mind Zach Balfour, the St Kilda operative sent to help her who coincidentally happened to be a western art expert (and how lucky was that!) I just didn't enjoy the plot. I found the art angle obvious and heavy handed and the twist at the end not so twisty and not very interesting. There was barely any sexual tension or romance. A disappointing read.

[sunnysd_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

River guide Jill Breck didn't know she was saving her own life when she fished the son of two of St. Kilda's top operatives out of the rapids, but when some family paintings put assassins on her trail, St. Kilda's agent Zach Balfour is all that stands between her and certain death.A bit formulaic, and not Lowell's best, but readable.

[jjmachshev_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Elizabeth Lowell is one of my auto-buy romantic suspense authors. I can never wait for the paperbacks either, so I just grin and shell out the $ for the hardcovers 'cause I know she'll provide a few hours of good reading now and I'll re-read it at least once every couple of years when I'm in need of a Lowell 'fix'! "Blue Smoke and Murder" is her latest and it's a headrush of action and tension from start to finish.The entire events of the book take place over a little less than two months...BUT, the real action and 9/10 of the book takes place in 5 days. Just reading it about gave me a heart attack and I didn't want to put it down 'til I knew what would happen next and...well, I'm sure you can guess how that went!The book opens with the murder of a fiesty 90-year-old woman. She's our heroine's Aunt Mercy and I was actually sorry we didn't get to hear more from her as she was a hell of a dame! But our heroine is Mercy's heir. Her name's Jill and she's a river guide who happened to save the life of two top St. Kilda Consulting operatives' son. She pocketed the card they gave her figuring she'd never need it...but of course she does...and pretty darn quickly too. Part of her inheritance is a set of 13 paintings. When she does some research, it appears that one of those paintings may have caused her aunts murder. So she uses her card and in steps Zach. Zach is quite the character. Smart, rugged, and handily enough, an art expert. He pilots Jill through the white water of greed, lies, politics, and murder that makes up the world of high ticket art collections. Neither of their lives will ever be the same.Another read I couldn't put down from Elizabeth Lowell. If you like Coulter, Johansen, or Brown...you owe it to yourself to pick up a copy of "Blue Smoke and Murder". I bet you'll get hooked too.

[wirtley · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Jill, a river guide inherited paintings from her grandmother. There is also a very price art auction coming up. Jill sends out copies of three paintings to art collectors. Then, she her life is threatened twice. She asks for help from a consulting company. Zach becomes her protector and a romance blooms. There is a mystery about the paintings that must be solved inbetween between death threats. Enjoyable romance.Suspense is average.

[readingknitter01 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

typical for the genre-romantic thriller-a good beach read

[dearheart_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The basis of the book has already been outlined, so I won’t bother with that aspect of it.It appears there should be a new genre type; Suspenseful Romance. Unlike some other Romantic Suspense books I’ve read, the main drive of the book is heavy on the suspense with only a small portion of the book dedicated to the romance aspect. That’s not in any way a dig. We know as soon as they meet that Jill and Zach are attracted, but more often than not, it’s more like the soundtrack in a movie. We know it’s there and it comes to the forefront at times, getting a little louder as we near the end of the book.The suspense begins fairly quickly and keeps up right through to the end of the story. The bad guys are identified and stopped, but we’re left with wanting to know what happens next to Jill and Zach. Hopefully they’ll be mentioned again in a future book.It is important for the story that we have an understanding of what takes place in the world of art and the author does a good job of bringing us up to speed. Perhaps a little more information than I wanted, and a couple of times I got lost in the explanation for a short time. I highly rate the suspense, the way the romance was handled, the fast pace, points of view from so many different characters involved, and the apparent research done by the author.This author was new to me. I’ve just ordered to more of her books.

[younglibrarian_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Third story in St. Kilda series. Hero: Zach Balfour, art historian, intelligence agent and bodyguard. Heroine: Jill Breck, art historian, painter, river guide. Jill saves Lane Faroe's life, thereby earning a "get out of any tough spot free" card from Joe Faroe. She redeems it when paintings left to her by her great-aunt are the root of her car being trashed and a death threat left on her window. Solid writing, would recommend to past fans of Lowell's work. For balance of romance and suspense would recommend Karen Rose as read-a-like author.