Giveaway, Guest Post, Mysteries

Guest Chick: Elle Marr

Please join us in giving a very warm welcome to today’s guest chick: Elle Marr, author of The Missing Sister,  Lies We Bury,  Strangers We Know, The Family Bones, The Alone Time, Your Dark Secrets, and The Lie She Wears!

Art museums have always entranced me. I’ve visited a fair amount (though never enough, in my opinion!). From the Crocker Art Museum located in my hometown of Sacramento, California, to the Louvre in Paris, France, each place holds wonders beyond its most famous piece of art; I always walk away feeling refreshed.

In my upcoming thriller, The Lie She Wears, my main character Pearl is an art curator for a museum in Portland, Oregon. However, when a centuries-old mask in her care goes missing, she is accused of theft, an act she could never fathom doing. Then, when she discovers a letter confessing to murder written by her deceased mother—amateur antiquist and mask collector, Sally—Pearl realizes that the two horrifying events may be related.

book cover
(Photo taken by Elle Marr)

Although The Lie She Wears skates off into themes of family dysfunction, deeply-held secrets and the psychopaths who keep them, it caused me to reflect on what made the Portland Art Museum previously such a place of safety and comfort for Pearl. Why does she love it so much? Is it because this museum’s collection, in my story, at least, has such an extensive inventory of masks, similar to those that her mother Sally collected?

venetian mask
(Photo of a Venetian wall mask, found in the public domain)

Probably. But, while Pearl specializes in Asian masks, Sally collected Venetian wall masks, the intricately-designed face coverings used as decoration and disguise. The masks served as both a bridge between the two women, and a sore point in that Pearl found them to be creepy. As it happens, I drew inspiration from my own grandparents’ collection of wall masks that decorated the hallway and bathrooms of their house, while I was growing up; they used to spook me at all hours! Recalling how I was equally entranced and repelled by them, I knew they had to play a role in The Lie She Wears.

Still, I kept coming back to those questions. What makes a great art museum and why? Is it its social media presence? The variety of art available for viewing, and whether it spans a narrow scope or broader content? If a museum features art from all around the world or if it instead focuses on local creators? Pearl’s answer only became clear to me when I finished writing the book. Regardless of the many details to consider—including, the price of admission and location—the museums considered to be behemoths of the art world are fairly consistent.

And, while Pearl must discover just who is behind the art theft, as she parries increasingly overt threats to her life, forcing her to consider just how well she knew her mother—I have no doubt she would agree.

Check out this list of the best art museums in the world, according to Reuters.

  1. Musee du Louvre, Paris, France
  2. Vatican Museums, Vatican City, Rome, Italy
  3. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York
  4. Paul Getty Center, Los Angeles, California
  5. Musee d’Orsay, Paris, France
  6. Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy
  7. Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
  8. Tate Modern, London, England
  9. Prado Museum, Madrid, Spain
  10. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Readers: Do you think any important museums were missed? For Pearl, the Portland Art Museum is, no doubt, deserving of more love. Leave a comment with your favorite museum and be entered to win a giveaway of a signed copy of The Lie She Wears.

Elle Marr is a #1 Amazon Charts bestselling author of six thrillers. Her work has been featured in PopSugar, Woman’s World Magazine, Goodreads, Audible, and TV affiliates for CBS, ABC, FOX, and NBC.

Originally from Sacramento, Elle graduated from UC San Diego before moving to France, where she earned a master’s degree from the Sorbonne University in Paris. She now lives and writes in Oregon with her family.

Last year’s THE ALONE TIME was recently named a Silver Falchion Award Judges’ Pick among 2024 Suspense titles. Her latest book YOUR DARK SECRETS is her first thriller romance, from Disney Publishing and Hyperion Avenue.

For more info, check out ellemarr.com or follow her on social media.

29 thoughts on “Guest Chick: Elle Marr”

  1. Thanks, Elle. I appreciate the excellent list of museums. I’m intrigued by family collections that serve as seeds, some growing into elaborate art centers. They may start with a singular focus, but some branch into broader interests. For example, the Amon Carter Museum of American of American Art includes much more than its initial focus on Western paintings (e.g., Frederic Remington and Charles M. Russell). In the 50s, Amon G. Carter laid the foundation for this museum.

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    1. Very interesting, and some excellent points here. The duty to preserve and protect art falls to all of us, and great things can be accomplished by a single person (or family, as you mention). Thank you for sharing!

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  2. Elle, your post took my breath away. Congratulations on The Lie She Wears. I’m excited to read it. I grew up in Brooklyn, New York. I think that’s one of the reasons the Brooklyn Museum of Art is so special to me. It’s given me so many wonderful memories.

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  4. I’m a great fan of both of the Getty Museums in Los Angeles, and was so relieved when the one in Malibu didn’t burn down last January.

    Thanks so much for visiting the Chicks today, Elle–your new book looks terrific!

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  5. I love a good art museum, and the Uffizi Gallery is one of my favorites from your top ten list. Philbrook Museum in Tulsa has a very special place in my heart because my mom started the gift shop there back in the 70s. But I love all museums, whether it’s a great art museum or a quirky hyper specific place where focus, like the World Famous Crochet Museum in Joshua tree or the seashell museum on Sanibel Island. Thanks so much for visiting the blog today!

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  6. Always love your unique and twisty plots, Elle! Honestly, I do find some masks creepier than others…

    As for art museums, I really enjoyed the Louvre and Musee d’Orsay in Paris, but I’m quite fond of smaller sites as well. For example, I think the UCLA Fowler Museum is pretty neat.

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    1. Okay, wow! Thank you for including the links to these incredible museums! I just found three more reasons to visit Toronto. Knowing that there is a place with so many footwear artifacts under one roof, just made my day. Thank you for having me, Cynthia!

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  8. I love going to art museums. Even if I don’t understand a single frame they have on the walls. I think my favorites are the galleries who showcase an artist for an event. Trying to understand what a single artist does with various pieces is challenging.
    and thanks for letting us know about your work. I love reading about all forms of art mediums in mysteries.
    and watching White Collar back in the day was fascinating.

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    1. I completely agree about White Collar, and galleries that showcase artists. My 2024 thriller, The Alone Time, actually features an artist (post-modern) who prepares for a gallery showing, and the research that I did for it was fascinating — as well as self-indulgent. Love love love discussing art in all its forms. Thank you for commenting, Hestia!

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  10. Fascinating post, Elle–and congrats on THE LIES SHE WEARS! Putting in a plug for the (Sterling and Francine) Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, MA. Beautiful, highly welcoming and community oriented. (I got to research a lot of student papers there, lol.)

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  12. Thank you for sharing these amazing museums! I have been to Lourve Museum and Vantican Museums and I love both of them! I know there are other wonderful museums around the world and I would love to visit them, like Smithsonian Museum.

    Congratulations on you new coming thriller – it sounds suspenseful! – Emily

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