Sheila Sharpe
In Artist, Lover, Forger, Thief, Sheila Sharpe dives headlong into the murky waters of identity, obsession, and deception in her smart, psychologically charged thriller. Nick McCoy is trying to walk away from a long career in art forgery, but not before pulling off one final, calculated act of revenge against Dixon Steele, a man with a violent past and far too much power. Meanwhile, his former therapist, Kate O’Dade, still reeling from the loss of her husband, gets pulled back into McCoy’s world when a Matisse painting shows up unannounced on her doorstep. The painting, and her decision to ask Nick for help, set off a chain of events involving stolen art, past crimes, concealed identities, and more than one murder.
The prose is polished, often lyrical, with a painterly attention to detail. The art world is described with both reverence and razor-sharp critique. . . This is a genre-bending literary thriller that lingers long after the final page.
--The Prairies Book Review
About the Book
Artist, Lover, Forger, Thief, the latest book by author and psychologist Sheila Sharpe, is a riveting, wildly entertaining, complex, and adrenalin-fueled art crime novel that is as intriguing as it is satisfying. Nick McCoy wants out of the art forgery business -- particularly since DCI Cromwell of Scotland Yard has been hot on his trail for decades, and their relentless cat-and-mouse game has grown tedious, at least for McCoy -- but not until he exacts revenge on the man who murdered his family many years ago. Kate O’Dade, McCoy’s former therapist and the only person who knows all of his secrets, comes to him for help after mysteriously receiving a painting of Matisse’s Open Window from an anonymous benefactor. This seemingly innocent meeting to determine its authenticity by McCoy sets off a chain of events that will take McCoy, O’Dade, Cromwell and his new team of investigators from San Diego to England, and from art forgery to murder.
Rarely do you find such complex characters; an intricate plot; compelling subject matter; and cunning psychological jousting woven throughout such a memorable story like Sharpe does in Artist, Lover, Forger, Thief.
About Sheila
Sheila Sharpe has been a therapist for more than forty years, specializing in treating trauma, couples, and artists. Being a detective of sorts to determine patients’ issues and their solutions like she does in The Ways We Love, along with her past history as an artist and fascination with art forgery, led to the creation of her new fiction book series, the Kate O’Dade Art Crime Novels, with Artist, Lover, Forger, Thief being the first book of the series, launching in April 2025.
Her roots in art are long and deep. A painter and storyteller since early childhood, Sharpe earned an undergraduate degree in painting and sculpture, as well as a degree in English Literature, from Connecticut College. Next, she earned an MFA in painting and film criticism from the University of California – San Diego, where she also taught both of those subjects.
Following her stint at UCSD, Sharpe used these creative and artistic skills working as an art teacher and social worker, before earning a PhD in clinical psychology.As a therapist and struggling artist, Sharpe began investigating the dark side of the art world, especially art forgery. This research, plus Sharpe’s therapy with creative people, led her to uncover why certain talented but traumatized artists became brilliant forgers. This research serves as the basis for the Kate O’Dade Art Crime Novels book series.
Sharpe lives in southern California, with her husband, Michael, a professor emeritus at UCSD.
Praise for Artist, Lover, Forger, Thief
"A fast-paced and captivating page turner that reverberates with psychological and social relevance."
-- SUSAN POHLMAN, author of Halfway to Each Other and A Time to Seek
"With razor-sharp psychological insight and an insider's look at the often-brutal machinations of the art world, author Sheila Sharpe reveals a world where nothing is as it seems."
-- LISA FUGARD, author of Skinner's Drift, a New York Times Notable Book