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.

Legendary actress Charlotte Graham investigates a geisha’s death at an elegant seaside resort in this chilling cozy mystery that weaves together history, politics, and murder When Commodore Matthew Calbraith Perry unlocked the door to Japan, American consul Townsend Harris fell in love with the legendary geisha Okichi. It was to be a doomed romance that ended with the scorned young woman hurling herself into the sea. More than a century later, the citizens of Newport, Rhode Island, celebrate Perry’s journey by inviting Okichi’s last surviving descendant, Okichi-mago, to visit their glittering resort. A famous geisha herself, Okichi-mago’s voyage to Newport is a great diplomatic affair—and it will end in tragedy. In a chilling echo of her ancestor’s death, Okichi-mago falls from one of Newport’s famous cliffs. But Hollywood icon Charlotte Graham can’t believe that the refined beauty would take her own life, so she sets out to find the killer. Mystery lovers with an interest in the history of Japan or old Hollywood will adore Murder on the Cliff. When the rich and famous tangle with murder, there’s no sleuth more suitable to working the case than the glamorous Charlotte Graham. Murder on the Cliff is the 3rd book in the Charlotte Graham Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.

Hollywood legend Charlotte Graham visits China to sample Buddhist sculpture, ancient art, and a thoroughly intellectual murder in this contemporary cozy mystery After four decades as a Hollywood and Broadway icon, Charlotte Graham is itching for a new adventure. So when a fortune-telling friend predicts that Charlotte is about to go on an exotic voyage—one which will challenge her as no trip ever has—and Charlotte’s stepdaughter invites her on an expedition to a remote oasis in northwest China, the legendary leading lady leaps at the chance to explore the unknown. But on reaching Dunhuang, Charlotte will be confronted with something she knows far too well: cold-blooded murder. Forbidding and mysterious, Dunhuang is a hotbed of academic research, where archaeologists, paleontologists, and scholars of all stripes rub elbows and butt heads. When a scientist is found dead just after making a historic find, Charlotte doesn’t need the I Ching to know it’s up to her to find the killer. Fans of Jessica Fletcher and Murder She Wrote will recognize Charlotte Graham as one of that special breed of amateur sleuth: a woman who wouldn’t dream of retirement and will never let a killer go free. Glamorous, elegant, and always entertaining, the Charlotte Graham series is truly one of a kind. Murder on the Silk Road is the 4th book in the Charlotte Graham Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.