What’s so Alameda about a mystery that takes place in San Francisco, New York, and the Alsace region of France? The main character just happens to be an Alameda resident and makes sure we know it. Sisters at an Exhibition may take off into the far reaches of the Western world, but it begins in a cozy Victorian-era home in the Island City.
Author Claudia Hagadus Long doesn’t live here, as it happens, but she lived in the East Bay for years and is well acquainted with our charming neighborhoods. “I put Zara’s home in Alameda in book two [another Zara and Lilly mystery called Our Lying Kin] because they had to move out of their San Francisco apartment,” Long said. “Zara chose Alameda because it has the vibrancy of San Francisco with the charm of a smaller town.”
Alameda resident Zara, an attorney who specializes in workplace disputes, teams up with her big sister, Lilly, a wild-child in New York, when a Renaissance-era sketch and its curator both go missing from a (fictional) San Francisco museum.
Sisters at an Exhibition, new from Sibylline Press, is the third Zara and Lilly mystery. It’s a standalone art-heist mystery, both cozy and globetrotting. There’s no sexy business and very little bloodshed, but lots of unanswered questions that set the extremely likeable main character, Zara, on her way.
At its heart is a black-and-white sketch by Caravaggio, unless it’s fake, unless there was a switch between fake and real, and unless it was stolen. Which one was stolen? What happened to the curator? Whose mistake was this expensive purchase, and who is the mystery entity that verified the artwork? Art lovers will enjoy the background on Caravaggio, known as the bad boy of the Renaissance with his dark, gritty paintings of David with the Head of Goliath and Judith Beheading Holofernes.
Zara needs to track down the missing curator, who is being blamed for the false appraisal as well as the missing sketch. Zara hops on a plane to New York, collects her sassy, fun-loving sister Lilly, and shenanigans ensue. The book is not a laugh riot, but it is funny—and smart. Zara (much like her creator) does not suffer fools but has a keen brain and wit. Underneath it all is an empathetic heart and a sharp sense of guilt, perhaps inevitable given that she and her sister are daughters of a Holocaust survivor. That fact becomes a plot point in the other Z&L mysteries and rears its head here when the diary of a “forest child”—children who survived the Holocaust by hiding in the forests of Europe—also goes missing.
The novel moves quickly, yet keeps you guessing until the end, and then wraps up the loose ends in a very satisfying way. Enjoyable highlights include the delicious food of the Alsace region of France, the lifelong bond of sisterhood, and an unexpected optimism in Zara, despite her upbringing. I laughed out loud several times and am keen to read the other two Z&L mysteries when they come back into print (Our Lying Kin and Nine-Tenths of the Law are slated to reprint in the next year).
Alameda first appears as a setting in Our Lying Kin. Zara “fell in love with a small Victorian, especially loving that she had a partial view of the Estuary. She could walk to the shoreline, breathe the clean air, and take the ferry instead of driving to San Francisco. I think she made the right choice,” said Long.
Long lived in the East Bay for some 40 years, practicing law in San Francisco and the East Bay for most of those. When it came time to downsize, she said, “Alameda was one of our top choices.” Ultimately, she and her husband ended up in Calistoga, where she now runs a new-and-used bookstore called Read Head Books. Stop in and meet her if you’re in the area.
Kirkus Reviews called Sisters at an Exhibition, “a killer, cozy-adjacent art-theft caper. … escapist yet intelligent.” Smart and funny is what I call it, and that’s my final word. Get a copy via Books Inc. (1344 Park Street, Alameda) or wherever you buy books.
Editor’s note: Ms. Tracey is the Acquisitions Editor of Sibylline Press, which published this book.
Julia Park Tracey is a former Alameda resident and Poet Laureate emeritus. She writes occasionally for the Alameda Post. Find her on social media or via www.juliaparktracey.substack.com.
