Review: PORTRAIT OF IGNATIUS JONES by Peter David Shapiro

REVIEW: PORTRAIT OF IGNATIUS JONES by Peter David Shapiro

Readers of author Peter David Shapiro' s GHOSTS OF THE RED LINE know his gift for not just suspending disbelief, but for holding faith and belief in a sort of bubble or force field, acknowledging that belief exists, while simultaneously showcasing the absence of belief through skepticism and downright cynicism. He is no proselytizer, so don't expect to be bludgeoned with conviction. I stead, each reader decides, just as each character must. Here again, the question of Spiritualism arises, the possibility of Afterlife continuance, and even more, of Afterlife communication.

 The focus is an 1896 portrait, a painting of a famed Boston Spiritualist, murdered 7 years later, when the portrait simply disappeared. Over 100 years later, it is serendipitously discovered by a well-to-do con artist, who makes it central to his new operation.