The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death offers readers an extraordinary glimpse into the mind of a master criminal investigator. Frances Glessner Lee, a wealthy grandmother, founded the Department of Legal Medicine at Harvard in 1936 and was later appointed captain in the New Hampshire police. In the 1940s and 1950s she built dollhouse crime scenes based on real cases in order to train detectives to assess visual evidence. Still used in forensic training today, the eighteen Nutshell dioramas, on a scale of 1:12, display an astounding level of detail: pencils write, window shades move, whistles blow, and clues to the crimes are revealed to those who study the scenes carefully. Corinne May Botz's lush color photographs lure viewers into every crevice of Frances Lee's models and breathe life into these deadly miniatures, which present the dark side of domestic life, unveiling tales of prostitution, alcoholism, and adultery. The accompanying line drawings, specially prepared for this volume, highlight the noteworthy forensic evidence in each case. Botz's introductory essay, which draws on archival research and interviews with Lee's family and police colleagues, presents a captivating portrait of Lee.

Contemporary artists revisit Warhol's 1985 love letter to America Originally published in 1985, Warhol's Americafeatures photographs both taken and collected by the artist during his cross-country travels and in-person encounters over the previous decade. The book, an idiosyncratic love letter to America, finds Warhol reflecting on everything from travel, beauty and fame to politics, technology and the American Dream. Three decades later, Fantasy Americainvites artists Nona Faustine, Kambui Olujimi, Pacifico Silano, Naama Tsabar and Chloe Wise to revisit this seminal publication and contribute their own art. All New York-based, they, like Warhol, are cross-disciplinary artists drawn to repetition, seriality and image appropriation in their work. Against the backdrop of nationwide protests in the wake of George Floyd's murder, the Black Lives Matter movement, the COVID-19 pandemic and the presidential election, these essays and artworks probe and challenge our perceptions of what America is and what it can become.

Matt Johanssen, a dedicated stage actor in his early fifties, is currently rehearsing a play soon to open on Broadway. Through the years Matt, in addition to his work in the theatre, has also anonymously assisted the NYPD in solving a number of crimes. While he is in rehearsals, thirty blocks away a startling murder takes place at the Metropolitan Museum of Art where a trustee is discovered on the roof of the Museum with a javelin thrust through his heart. The dramatic nature of the crime reverberates through cultural circles in Manhattan. A few days later, during a rehearsal of Matt’s Broadway-bound play, the admired, beloved lady producer of the play is found dead in the darkened basement lounge of the theatre. Ten days later, during a gala at the American Museum of Natural History, there is another murder of a museum trustee, this one far more sensational than the one before. Working behind the scenes Matt becomes deeply involved in solving all three murders. Meanwhile, he encounters an intriguing, auburn haired woman writing about the murders, with whom he becomes involved. Set against a background of the inner workings of the theatre, as well as the arts and cultural scenes in New York City, The Patron Murders is part detective story, part social novel, and part a witty, incisive critique of the relationship of recently acquired fortunes to the old-line arts establishments of the City.