The Dulcie Chambers Mysteries by Kerry J Charles


An Exhibit of Madness Book #1

(A LIBRARY JOURNAL Self-e Selection! Part of a curated colletion of ebooks at participating local libraries.)

Dr. Dulcinea (Dulcie) Chambers has a lot on her mind. She's just opened a new exhibit of Winslow Homer watercolors at the Maine Museum of Art where she's the chief curator. The exhibit will be complete when the museum's director, the urbane Joshua Harriman, buys the final piece at auction. But when Dulcie discovers a body where the painting should have been, she's one of the primary suspects. Portland Police Detective Nicholas Black is on the case but finds he is less than objective when it comes to the attractive Dr. Chambers.

As a native, Dulcie is firmly rooted in Maine but has risen to the top of the museum world quickly. She's confident in her work but not in her skills at a cocktail party. She'd rather be at home with a good glass of wine and a book. Nick grew up in the socialite-filled and privileged world of Boston's elite, groomed for a career in law. He jumped ship, much to his family's horror, and chose the life of a police detective instead. He hasn't looked back and they won't forgive him.

Piecing together clues while continuing to run a museum isn't easy for Dulcie. When an attempt is made on her life, Nick knows that the situation is dire. Yet he has little experience with the art world, and must rely on Dulcie’s knowledge and intuition. The missing painting must be the key, if only Dulcie and Nick could understand how.

Originally titled: Portrait of a Murder

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From the Murky Deep Book #2

Detective Nicholas Black has cause for concern. He’s investigating the suspicious death of a young woman whose body has just washed on shore in full scuba gear. Normally it would simply be a case of drowning, yet along with this particular body is a stolen Vincent van Gogh painting in a watertight tube. To further complicate matters, the phone number of Dr. Dulcinea (Dulcie) Chambers is written on the dead woman’s hand. As the new director of the Maine Museum of Art, Dulcie is already busy negotiating the sale of one of the museum’s pieces with a wealthy collector. When Dulcie learns that she’s a chief suspect however, she has no choice but to help with the investigation. Dulcie finds herself diving in to solve this mystery as her relationship with Detective Nicholas Black also reaches new depths.

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The Fragile Flower Book #3

Dr. Dulcinea (Dulcie) Chambers is honored to have the esteemed British artist Logan Dumbarton as a guest at the Maine Museum of Art. The abstract expressionist painter has come all the way from London to teach a master class. His students, a group of talented local artists, are initially in awe. However, the eccentric artist is accompanied by an entourage that is proving less than ideal. His stunningly exotic wife Isabel is a constant distraction with her incessant whining, while Linda, Logan’s ever-efficient sister and business manager, does nothing but placate her brother’s whims. To make matters worse, Logan seems to vacillate between annoyingly sniveling and irritatingly egocentric at any given moment. Within a week the entire class loathes him. Is he really worth all of this trouble? Somebody doesn’t seem to think so, and it’s up to Dulcie to find out who. But she’ll have to team up with Detective Nicholas Black once again, and at the moment their relationship can only be described as fragile.

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A Mind Within Book #4

While assembling works for a new exhibit featuring the often unusual genre of Outsider Art, Dr. Dulcinea (Dulcie) Chambers encounters an enormously talented and equally troubled young man, Xander Bellamy. An autistic savant, Xander has not communicated with anyone for several months since his father was sent to prison for the murder of Xander's domineering grandfather. When the police had originally thought that Xander was the murderer, Xander's father quickly confessed. Was he simply trying to save his son from being committed to an institution for the criminally insane?

Detective Nicholas Black thought the case was closed until Dulcie came to him with compelling evidence that the real killer still could be at large. Xander's battle-axe aunt has come to live with him and, along with long-time family housekeeper Giselle, they see to his needs. But is there more to them than meets the eye? Meanwhile Dulcie seeks to see inside Xander's mind with the help of psychologist Dr. Raymond Armand. However, the ambitious Armand has other ideas about the lovely Dr. Chambers and is about to give Nicholas Black some competition when it comes to her affections.

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Last of the Vintage Book #5

Dr. Dulcinea (Dulcie) Chambers' old boyfriend, the adventurous, fun-loving, and decidedly good-looking Brendan MacArthur, reappears bearing a unique gift for the Maine Museum of Art: a very old bottle of wine, one of several that he found in a shipwreck while scuba diving in Maine’s cold Atlantic waters. With museum attendance low during a particularly brutal winter, Dulcie knows exactly what to do. The museum will host a wine tasting as a fundraiser featuring this old vintage. But when an icebreaker busts through the pack ice in Portland harbor the day after the festivities, the crew makes a gruesome discovery. Someone from the party didn’t make it home, and instead wound up among the bobbing gray-blue sheets of ice floating from one side of the harbor to the other.

Dulcie’s knowledge of wine is needed by detective Nicholas Black as he sorts through the details of this case, but their budding relationship is also put to the test. Brendan MacArthur’s sudden reappearance irritates Nick. Does he ignore his feelings and chalk them up to simple jealousy, or is there something else far more dangerous about this Brendan MacArthur that Dulcie and Nick have yet to discover?

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The Hand That Feeds You Book #6

As if running an art museum wasn’t enough, Dr. Dulcinea Chambers now finds herself in battle with the new board of directors chair, Vanessa Rich, who is on a ruthless quest to trim the budget in any way she can. Her cost-cutting measures will begin with selling off Dulcie’s antique office furniture, much to Dulcie’s bewilderment. Detective Nicholas Black is no less perplexed when falconry expert Esmerelda Graves barges into the police station insisting that one of her prized birds has been murdered. Ulterior motives are certainly at play as Dulcie finds that Vanessa stands to profit from the sales, while Nick learns that Esmerelda’s raptors are carrying tiny video cameras. When the seemingly disconnected worlds of these two shady women begin to intertwine, and a most certainly murdered person turns up where the dead bird was found, Dulcie and Nick need hawk-like precision to determine why… before someone else falls prey.

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Coming July 2020...

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