An Exquisite Corpse is half murder mystery and half historical fiction, mainly involving Surrealist refugees in 1943. I actually enjoyed the insight into the culture of the New York art world more than the investigation into the crime, but then again, I tend to like mysteries more for the setting and less about discovering the culprit.

Helen A. Harrison, an art historian turned novelist, populates this story with Marcel Duchamp, Jackson Pollock, Max Ernst, Andre Breton, Peggy Guggenheim, Roberta Matta, Willem de Kooning, Djuna Barnes, Lena Horne, Art Tatum, and Wilfredo Lam (here found dead), among others. Fortunately, Mr. Lam, in real life, was in Cuba at the time of these events, and survived until 1982, but otherwise, the fictionalized historical figures really were in New York City, living extremely complicated lives, as artists often do. I enjoyed her depiction of the NYC neighborhoods, ethnicities, classes, and professions--it's a nice portrait of the city in a time of great change.

With so many characters and such a complex plot, it's hard to get too emotionally involved in this one--there's no cohesive viewpoint, as the narrative switches between various artists, police investigators, and gang members in Chinatown and Spanish Harlem. This, of course, may be just the thing you're looking for. It's light entertainment, and a bit of an education, as well.

NOVEL: An Exquisite Corpse

AUTHOR: Helen A. Harrison

YEAR OF PUBLICATION: 2016

IMAGE: book cover, Poisoned Pen Press