I would place this between 3.5 and 4 stars (rating shown may vary depending on whether site allows half star ratings).

I am enjoying another series by Susan Page Davis (the Maine Justice series) and didn't realize she wrote also for Annie's Fiction until this book. A friend (CC) sent me several books from a different Annie's Fiction series (Secrets of the Castleton Manor Library) and as I finished those, I went to my local Half Price Books to see if they had others. I did not find any from that series but I did find several from this series.

Given that the series is named Creative Woman I thought several crafts might be represented, but it seems to be mostly knitting, beading, and a bit of jewelry making. Though Shannon does rent lofts to at least 2 painters--one of them being Fredo Benson.

Based on the title, I expected there to be some discovery about a painting/picture. I wasn't sure if it would be that one thought to be a reproduction or worthless would turn out to be an original and be valuable OR if it would be that one assumed to be an original would turn out to be a forgery or a reproduction or not to have been done by the artist people thought it had been done by. Another option would have been to have a picture be a key point in solving the mystery.

There were several pictures in the story:
*Fredo had sketches and a painting of the inside of Shannon's house
*Lana's art textbook had a picture of Mrs. Reid's relative with the beaded bag that Shannon is restoring that was done by Milford--an apparently famous Art Deco painter of portraits for the upper class.

Shannon is not as hands on with the mystery through parts of this book. So at least we are escaping the trope of "the police are incompetent and I must help them solve this mystery or it will never be solved" that sometimes plagues the genre.

I kind of wish the series would resolve the Michael/Shannon will they or won't they romance angle. Either have one or the other ask the other on a date or have them both decide to be friends--but quit harping on the will they just be friends or do they want something more angle. 4 books in and it's already a bit annoying. ( )

An artist and art Deco bead purse is at the center of this Creative Woman Mystery where Shannon’s discovery leads to murder. The author drops several clues along the way for the reader to follow and guess who is really misbehaving this time. ( )