“It’s a thrilling mystery that will leave you wondering which characters you can and can’t trust . . . There’s a twist at the end that still keeps us up at night, it's THAT good.” —Reese Witherspoon (A Reese’s Book Club x Hello Sunshine Selection)
A REESE'S BOOK CLUB x HELLO SUNSHINE Selection
A BOOK OF THE MONTH Selection
An Amazon Best Mystery/Thriller of the Year
Named a Best Book to Read by Time, Entertainment Weekly, Bustle, Buzzfeed, The Daily Beast, The Guardian, Refinery29, and more.
“[A] mysterious page turner.” —Time, 1 of 22 New Books to Read This Summer
“While Still Lives is a deeply affecting examination of how our culture fetishizes female victims of crime—be it in art, news, or publishing—it will also have readers feverishly turning pages to discover the fate of engaging characters who are more than symbols of what’s wrong or right about Los Angeles. It’s a stunning achievement for a writer who perfectly captures an outsider’s ambivalence about the city’s pluses and minuses, and most notably its sensational crimes and the dark angels we make of its victims.” —Los Angeles Times
“[A] splendid art–world thriller . . . Ms. Hummel captures characters in a single stroke . . . Having herself worked in a museum, she speaks with authority of that sealed world . . . Still Lives is both savvy and lyrical—the perfect beach read for either coast.” —The Wall Street Journal
“Mystery and murder cloud this feminist story set in the heart of Los Angeles’ art scene. When an avant–garde artist goes missing on the day her groundbreaking exhibition opens, the story spins out in many provocative directions.” —Entertainment Weekly, 1 of 20 New Books to Read in June
“Hummel’s fourth novel shows her genius for layering levels of meaning, and her sophisticated sense of the mercurial, sometimes corrupt art world, from dealers to wealthy patrons, including those so secretive they want to purchase work (and drive up an artist’s worth) without leaving a trail . . . Maggie’s stake in this story makes for unrelenting suspense.” —BBC Culture, 1 of 10 Books to Read in June
“This is not only a satisfying mystery, but also an ambitious, intelligent and often uncomfortable study of gender, violence and art.” —The Guardian
“A delicious Los Angeles noir that combines the glitz and glamor of fine art with the grit and grime of crime and sexual objectification, Still Lives is a thought–provoking novel packaged in one hell of a mystery.” —The Daily Beast, One of The Best Summer Beach Reads of the Year
“A very satisfying page–turner and a selection last year for Reese Witherspoon‘s Hello Sunshine book club, Maria Hummel’s murder mystery novel shines a light on the behind–the–scenes workings of a (fictional) major art museum in Los Angeles. While the whodunnit keeps the plot moving, Hummel also takes time to illuminate how women are portrayed as stationary objects (still lives, if you will) in both art and the media—notably through the media and public’s fascination with young women as murder victims throughout history.” —Rachel King, Fortune, 1 of 7 Novels to Read on Your Summer Travels
“Reese Witherspoon's new book club pick is a dark, feminist thriller, and you're not going to want to miss it.” —Bustle
“Maria Hummel's Still Lives is moody and restless, propelled by a gradually intensifying sense of unease. Hummel envelops the reader in the LA art scene . . . Her journey illuminates the misogyny which allows a culture to turn murdered women into objects for consumption.” —BuzzFeed, 1 of 30 Exciting New Books to Add to your Summer Reading List
“Still Lives, both the fictional exhibit and the actual book itself, make an important statement about how our society too often fetishizes violence against women. Plus, it’s the perfect companion to this week’s other big art–centric story: Ocean’s 8.” —HelloGiggles, 1 of 15 Books Coming Out This Week That You Don't Want to Miss
“[A] spellbinding new novel . . . No doubt comparisons to Raymond Chandler’s best work will rain down upon Still Lives, dotted as it is with trenchant observations of LA and the human condition. Like Chandler, Hummel is capable of limning out a ripping yarn replete with high fashion, high finance and high society . . . And not unlike another master of the mystery, Erle Stanley Gardner, Hummel includes an intellectually satisfying Perry Mason moment that also provides an interesting twist. It would be damning with faint praise to call Still Lives a contender for best beach read of the year—like calling Pablo Picasso a really good painter—but Still Lives is both that and so much more.” —BookPage
“Does your book club love art, feminism, and a riveting mystery? If so, Still Lives is the ideal novel to discuss over a glass of wine and some snacks . . . Book clubs will love dissecting the gender commentary and the interpersonal relationships in Maria Hummel’s novel.” —Bookish, A June Book Club Pick
“Within Still Lives, the new novel by Maria Hummel (Motherland, Wilderness Run), is a taut thriller with enough compelling elements for a propulsive book . . . Still Lives is an effective thriller with a delectable final 100 pages. It reaches an addictive pitch that all books of this ilk aspire to. The more Hummel settles into the plot machinations the better the novel gets, as the hazy ideological questions and confusing passages fall away . . . Hummel engages with complicated and challenging questions about the meaning and impact of art that depicts violence, and she writes a hell of an ending.” —Los Angeles Review of Books
“One of the smartest thrillers I’ve read in a long time . . . Still Lives is a gripping page–turner, but it’s also more than that. I appreciate how Hummel—much like Kim Lord—used the art of storytelling to make me consider the ways in which our culture is complicit in violence against women. In the wake of the Me Too movement, I think a book like this is necessary. It prompts readers to look inward at how we view women and how we consume stories about violence against them.” —Adison Godfrey, BookMark, WPSU
“The careful characterizations of the players . . . mean that, as the mystery unfolds to reveal them as suspects or victims, the reader feels deep empathy that comes from perceiving them as real people, not plot devices. Hummel builds visceral intimacy around 'women’s oppressive anxiety about [their] ultimate vulnerability' in this often uncomfortable tale about the media’s fetishistic fascination with the violent murders of beautiful women.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“In this taut take on noir, misogyny, and the art of responsible storytelling, Hummel (Motherland, 2014, etc.) balances the glitz and glam of the Los Angeles art world with the town tourists don’t often see, from peeling, postwar bungalows to skid row tent cities and suffering junkies . . . This is a whip–smart mystery and a moving meditation on the consumption of female bodies all rolled into one.” —Kirkus Reviews
“Hummel’s novel ultimately offers an intriguing insider’s view into a high–stakes, turbulent industry, from peculiar artists to fabulous exhibitions. With deliberate pacing increasing the tension, the story line revolving around the public’s fascination with graphic crimes against women serves as a chilling reminder that such violence continues to occur in many forms.” —Library Journal
“Hummel . . . presents a polished, droll, and provocative art–world thriller . . . With a cast of strong and complicated female characters, headed by a determined, reckless, funny, and imperiled amateur sleuth, Hummel crafts a shrewd and suspenseful inquiry into womanhood and the dark side of the art market, punctuated by striking variations on identity, portraiture, and 'still lives.'“ —Booklist
“There’s nothing I like better than a well–written page–turner about the art world, and Maria Hummel has delivered this and more with her new literary thriller, Still Lives. Flawed characters abound as do clever plots and subplots along with irresistible peeks into hidden chambers of the L.A. art scene. Riveting.” —B.A. Shapiro, New York Times bestselling author of The Art Forger and The Muralist
“A gripping mystery set inside the world of contemporary art, Still Lives is the kind of book we all hope to stumble upon: the perfect combination of terrific prose and compelling storytelling. Maria Hummel has delivered the smartest, most original page–turner I've read in a long time.” —Maggie Shipstead, author of Astonish Me and the New York Times bestselling Seating Arrangements
