In the artistic heart of Ashland, Oregon, where Shakespeare banners flutter above crowded galleries and musicians play beneath strings of lantern light, beauty can be dangerously deceptive.
When celebrated sculptor Hadrian Kessler unveils his dazzling new gallery of Greco-Roman statuary during Ashland's First Friday Art Walk, retired Israeli antiquities investigator William Mills immediately senses something wrong beneath the polished marble surfaces. The sculptures are flawless. Too flawless. And when a mysterious death shocks the local arts community, William and his partner Carol Lindsey find themselves drawn into a labyrinth of forged antiquities, hidden vaults, stolen masterpieces, and secrets buried beneath Ashland's charming façade.
But the deeper they dig, the stranger the mystery becomes.
Ghostly piano notes echo through the old Ashland Co-Op Gallery next door. Wolfie—the gentle spirit of a gifted young pianist killed decades earlier in a tragic accident—seems desperate to warn them. Dante, the mischievous ghost cat haunting Beckworth Mansion, reacts with fear to hidden rooms beneath Kessler's villa filled with looted statues and dangerous secrets.
Meanwhile, the Blue Lady ghost, Ophelia Beckworth, continues to haunt Lithia Park's fountain, and William's dreams of a woman running through the rain grow more vivid with every passing night. Someone was chasing her long ago. Someone may still be hiding the truth.
As William's investigation places him behind bars for a murder he may not have committed, Carol must take the lead—navigating Ashland's eccentric artists, mysterious spiritualists, suspicious collectors, and colorful locals to uncover the truth before another death occurs.
Filled with cozy charm, Shakespearean atmosphere, ghostly intrigue, delicious food, hidden history, and a slow-burning romance, A Sculpted Demise is the fourth installment in the beloved Ghostly Ashland Shakespeare Mysteries series.
In Ashland, even the statues have secrets.
