Paint by Numbers: A Charles Bloom Murder Mystery (1st Book in Series‪)‬

Bloom’s on Canyon Road, owned by art dealer Charles Bloom and specializing in contemporary Native American art, was once a powerhouse gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Then it lost its best-known artist, Willard Yellowhorse. Worse yet was Yellowhorse’s death after relocating to New York City and under very suspicious circumstances. With PAINT BY NUMBERS: A CHARLES BLOOM MYSTERY, Mark Sublette launches a fictional murder-mystery series of novels centered in the Southwest art world.

Now that Yellowhorse’s final painting, “Struggle,” is about to be sold at auction in New York City, gallery owner Charles Bloom’s inner voice is shouting with two unrelenting questions: How did Willard Yellowhorse really die, and who if anyone killed him? Charles suspects the answers lie deep inside the Navajo Nation, Yellowhorse’s homeland, where Charles will need the help of Yellowhorse’s sister, Rachael, and her grandfather, the nearly 100-year-old medicine man Hastiin Sherman, to unlock the key to Yellowhorse’s death. What Charles doesn’t realize is that the evil coyote spirit that tracked down Yellowhorse is still watching and Charles could be next, if he isn’t careful…

Covering similar terrain as the late Tony Hillerman, author Mark Sublette submerges himself in the culture of Navajoland as his protagonist, Santa Fe art dealer Charles Bloom, adjusts to the rhythms of the rez while unraveling the spiritual ties that inspired Willard Yellowhorse’s creative paintings… and led Willard to New York, where that creativity met an abrupt end. Includes 22 original photographs.

"From the gripping prologue to the twist-upon-twist conclusion, Mark Sublette's Paint by Numbers will keep you up nights… unable to stop turning the page!" – Sandi Ault, best-selling author of the WILD Mystery Series

"Mark Sublette's first novel is... marvelous. The white art dealer Charles Bloom lives in New Mexico with Indians. His impressive work is constantly taken away by those who go for nothing but money in New York. But Charles Bloom never stops in following great creativity... neither should we." – Michael Blake, author of Dances with Wolves

"A deadly mystery about art and ambition, stretching from Navajoland to New York." – Wolf Schneider, albuquerqueARTS

"This riveting art mystery, in the tradition of the late Tony Hillerman, successfully develops an intriguing tale that captures the essence of the creative spirit of the Navajo from the Toadlena region." – Mark Winter, author of The Master Weavers and owner of the Historic Toadlena Trading Post