Point Blank buys fine art murder mystery

Oneworld's literary crime and suspense imprint Point Blank has acquired a new murder mystery series by fine artist and pet portraitist Ali Carter.

Jenny Parrott, publishing director of Point Blank, acquired world rights all languages directly from the author for a trilogy of "cosy crime" novels, debuting with A Brush With Death.

Described as Agatha Christie meets Downton Abbey, A Brush With Death combines a contemporary-set country-house murder mystery with an insight into the life of a working artist, in the company of amateur sleuth and pet portraitist, Susie Mahl.

Carter is a fine artist who specialises in oil paintings from life. A Brush With Death is her first novel.

Point Blank will be promoting the book with a "major" marketing campaign, author appearances, and the chance for readers to win a portrait of their own pet, drawn by Carter.

Parrott said: "I’m totally nuts about animals, and also murder mysteries. And so to have the opportunity to work with someone as talented as Ali, who is combining the two, is a dream come true. Ali grew up on an estate in Scotland and so completely gets the fine nuances of how the aristocracy live, while her real-life background as a fine artist and pet portraitist lends a fascinating peephole into the process of producing art. Add to this some cracking cosy-crime sleuthing from her heroine Susie Mahl, a lovely, but self-confessed nosy parker in her thirties, and I think this is going to be a delightful series that will quickly garner a legion of enthusiastic fans."

Carter said: "I’m embracing the opportunity to combine art, pets, feckless aristocrats and murder, with a female sleuth at the heart of it all."

A Brush With Death, the first in a series of Susie Mahl Mysteries, will be published by Point Blank in June 2018 as an original paperback.