Seren

It’s 1978, and the high-end art scene in the Midwest is booming. Successful Detroit gallery owner Fairchild Moss is tired of his life as a middleman. He secretly yearns to return to his first love — painting. When Moss comes into possession of a mysterious masterpiece created by the reclusive genius Norris Bainbridge, his life takes an unexpected turn. Perplexed by several unexpected elements in the thick paint — the imprint of a female nipple and a partial handprint — Moss is intrigued. These clues convince him that the aging artist was not alone in the creation of his powerful work.

So begins a darkly comic quest to uncover the true story behind the eerie painting and to locate the muse who inspired the aging master’s greatest masterpiece. Moss is aided in his search by his favorite bartender, Claudine Boatwright, along with a cast of eccentric characters from the art world. The story follows Moss and Claudine from the posh suburbs of Detroit to the wilds of Michigan’s Keweenaw Peninsula and overseas to a gala opening in London and an out-of-the-way atelier in Paris. During their journey, the pair discover a pattern of bizarre deaths linked to the Welsh muse, Seren. When Moss and the muse finally meet, she seduces him with the prospect of rekindling his failed painting career. Moss falls under the spell of this savage, otherworldly woman and discovers the high price of resurrecting old dreams.

Seren is more than the story of a man’s obsession with a painting. The novel also chronicles the on-again, off-again love story of Moss and Claudine — two social misfits who team up to unravel the secrets of the muse, and in the course of events discover just how complicated love can be.