Long Gone

If any of you are James Lee Burke fans, you will recognize the author of this book--Alafair Burke--his daughter. Her first name is also the name of the young adopted child in the Dave Robicheaux series by James Lee Burke. Alafair Burke has apparently been at this a while, having written six other books with a series protagonist named Ellie Hatcher, none of which I have read.
Alice Humphrey is trying to make it on her own, without relying on the reputation or largesse of her famous movie actor father and mother. Victim of the economic downturn, she has been jobless and struggling for several months when a chance meeting at an art gallery presents her with the offer to run a small gallery--a dream come true. The owner wishes to remain anonymous and the gallery must have a showing of one artist's work--for whom the own is apparently a patron and/or lover-- for a short few weeks and then Alice is free to run the gallery as she sees fit. The artist's works, however, generate a huge controversy & protest on the part of some conservative religious fanatics, but Alice is determined to stay the course. That is until she comes to work one morning to find the gallery stripped and the intermediary of the original job offer, Drew Campbell, dead on the floor. All efforts to establish the legitimacy of the gallery seem to hit dead ends and Alice quickly becomes the main suspect for the murder. In the process of trying to find the gallery's owner, Alice uncovers some dark secrets from her family's past. Still, Alice has friends and family trying to help her get to the bottom of things--or perhaps they have an agenda of their own.