Just a Simple Little Painting

♥ Moving on should be easier than this ♥

All is quiet at the newly-opened BlackLeaf Private Investigations Agency, apart from the blame game running amok in Fern and Raven's minds. Tetchiness is alive and well.

When a local hotel owner calls upon them after a spate of thefts threatens her trade prior to the Summer Fête, Raven is hired as a mystery guest. But before she can even check in, a real case comes knocking.

A particularly disagreeable guest has reported the theft of a painting from her hotel safe, and she insists the rookie investigators find it ...quickly. She even tells them who took the painting. Yeah, weird, right?

Confused as to whether it can now count as a legitimate case, Raven and Fern must act like the professionals they claim to be. But tracking the culprit down is not so straightforward, drawing them into a much bigger drama involving the painting's true provenance.

A trip to The Netherlands ensues, uncovering a WWII heroine and a vast network of art fraud, but little do they know a bigger nightmare awaits them back in Framleigh.

Just a Simple Little Painting tests the two young women as wounds of the past continue to inflict harm on their working relationship and, ultimately, their friendship.

What could possibly go wrong?

Women's Fiction with a mystery thread and a hint of psychopath