Publisher: MacMillan Publ.
Release Date: June 11, 2024
Many thanks to The Big Thrill Magazine and author for an arc of this title. All opinions expressed are my own.
Review first published in The Big Thrill Magazine
Some women can’t be erased from history...
Review:
THE FINAL ACT OF JULIETTE WILLOUGHBY is the third book from Ellery Lloyd, a pseudonym for the London-based husband-and-wife writing team of Collette Lyons and Paul Vlitos. A compelling conflation of several genres including mystery, suspense, romance, and history with hints of mythology woven throughout, the story catapults readers back in time to find themselves entwined in a dark, century old family drama steeped in ugly secrets, manic obsession, and revenge. Readers are challenged with determining if the answers to three mysterious deaths are hidden in a once lost painting by deceased surrealist artist Juliette Willoughby.
THE FINAL ACT OF JULIETTE WILLOUGHBY is an epic, richly atmospheric, often sordid, dark family saga spanning more than a decade. The story unfolds through dual points of view beginning with the tragic love affair between surrealist artists Juliette Willoughby and her married lover, Oskar Erlich, who perish in a suspicious fire in 1938 Paris. The couple's story surfaces again in 1991 Cambridge when two university students in possession of Juliette's diary and long-lost painting, "Self-Portrait As Spinx", raise significant questions concerning the death of Juliette that threatens to divulge long buried secrets of the famous Willoughby family. The story continues in the current time with a scandal surrounding the arrest of art dealer Patrick Lambert for the murder of the last remaining descendant of the Willoughby family in Dubai.
Flawlessly executed through brilliant characterizations, THE FINAL ACT OF JULIETTE WILLOUGHBY accentuates the fascinating world of historical art and women's struggle for recognition within it, a sordid illicit love affair, a highly dysfunctional family drama, and an intriguing murder and missing person mystery. The duo's mesmerizing writing style draws readers in, holding them in the palm of their hands until the final page. This book is a highly entertaining, fast paced, scandalous murder mystery I recommend to art history buffs, and mystery and suspense readers.
Synopsis:
A story of love and madness, of obsession and revenge.
Paris, 1938: Runaway heiress Juliette Willoughby perishes, with her married lover, in an accidental studio fire alongside her Surrealist masterpiece, Self-Portrait as Sphinx.
Cambridge, 1991: Two art history students stumble across proof something sinister was at play in Juliette's death, threatening to expose the long-buried secrets of the artist's aristocratic family.
Dubai, now: An art dealer is accused of the brutal murder of his oldest friend – the last surviving member of the Willoughby dynasty.
Three suspicious deaths over the course of a century.
Is the key to unlocking them all hidden in Juliette Willoughby’s lost painting?
Paris, 1938: Runaway heiress Juliette Willoughby perishes, with her married lover, in an accidental studio fire alongside her Surrealist masterpiece, Self-Portrait as Sphinx.
Cambridge, 1991: Two art history students stumble across proof something sinister was at play in Juliette's death, threatening to expose the long-buried secrets of the artist's aristocratic family.
Dubai, now: An art dealer is accused of the brutal murder of his oldest friend – the last surviving member of the Willoughby dynasty.
Three suspicious deaths over the course of a century.
Is the key to unlocking them all hidden in Juliette Willoughby’s lost painting?
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