Laura Leffler is a writer and art historian who builds stories within the gorgeous, strange, and sometimes terrifying art world. After receiving a master’s degree in
post-war and contemporary art, she spent more than a decade working in commercial galleries, doing everything from art fair sales to condition reporting and logistics. Along the way, she witnessed more of that glittering world’s dark underbelly than she thought possible. Leffler currently lives in Colorado with her family.
Tell Them You Lied is her first novel.
At CrimeReads Leffler tagged seven standout art historical crime novels, including:
The Magnolia Palace by Fiona Davis
As in all of Davis’s novels, The Magnolia Palace centers on a New York City landmark—this time it is the Frick Museum—and alternates 
between two timelines. In 1919, artists’ model Lillian Carter, a woman once lauded as the most beautiful in the world, is at an impasse. She is only 21, but her body has changed, ending her career. Her mother is dead and Lillian is alone and without means. She takes a job as a secretary to young Miss Frick, but soon gets accused of murder. Meanwhile, fifty years later, fashion model Veronica agrees to do a photo shoot at the museum, but a winter storm disrupts everything, leaving her stranded and following a trail of clues that will eventually solve the old murder.
Read about
the other novels on the list.
--Marshal Zeringue
post-war and contemporary art, she spent more than a decade working in commercial galleries, doing everything from art fair sales to condition reporting and logistics. Along the way, she witnessed more of that glittering world’s dark underbelly than she thought possible. Leffler currently lives in Colorado with her family.
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