Publisher's Synopsis
In a city renowned for its elegance and artistic brilliance, the shadows hold more than just forgotten secrets-they hide a relentless force bent on vengeance. Ten years have passed since the flames devoured St. Cecilia's Gallery, a devastating fire that claimed the life of the promising young artist, Elena Stone. The official investigation closed with a simple conclusion: accident. Yet, beneath the facade of civility, rumors of arson and betrayal have never fully disappeared, lingering like a smoldering ember. And now, in the heart of this city of masks, the flames of the past have reignited.
A series of brutal murders shocks the art world. Prominent figures in the city's creative community are found dead, each body grotesquely staged, each face adorned with a broken mask. These masks, once symbols of joy, sorrow, and beauty, now bear a darker meaning-one of rage and retribution. Enter Detective Clara Roberts, a methodical and seasoned investigator, whose personal connection to the city's art scene runs deeper than most know. Tasked with unraveling the chilling mystery, Clara must navigate the complex web of human ambition, envy, and deceit that has festered beneath the city's polished exterior. Clara soon realizes that the murders are not random acts of violence but part of a calculated and artistic pattern, one as intricate as the city's famed masterpieces. The broken masks tell a story-a message hidden in every shattered fragment. Each victim, a celebrated artist or patron, was once entwined with the legacy of Elena Stone, and as Clara digs deeper, she discovers connections that reach back to the night of the gallery fire. The killer, it seems, is not merely seeking death but justice. Justice for a wrong that the city has long since buried. As the investigation progresses, Clara is drawn into the elite world of art collectors, critics, and creators-people who wear their own metaphorical masks. In this world, passion and ambition often blur the line between genius and madness, between creation and destruction. What begins as a quest for justice soon becomes a personal reckoning for Clara, whose ties to the victims and the art community grow increasingly entangled. The pressure mounts as Clara races against time, forced to confront her own hidden fears and unresolved guilt. Every step closer to the truth brings her face to face with a killer whose motivations are not only personal but philosophical, someone for whom life and death are merely the raw materials of a grand, twisted creation. In The Broken Mask, Lance Overman crafts a masterful psychological thriller that explores the intersection of art, identity, and vengeance. With every mask that shatters, Clara peels back the layers of the city's glittering facade, revealing the darker truths about human nature. The novel is a meditation on the fine line between beauty and horror, creativity and destruction, where the drive for recognition and immortality leads some to transcend morality and others to lose their very souls. In the end, the question remains: Who is the true artist? The creator, or the destroyer? And how much of ourselves do we hide behind the masks we wear every day? The Broken Mask is a sophisticated and chilling tale of art and obsession, where every stroke of genius might also be a stroke of madness, and the truth is more dangerous than anyone imagined.
