After reading Peter Gooch’s Seren, I find myself marveling at a novel that weaves a murder mystery into the messy fabric of artistic obsession, identity, and legacy. At its center is Fairchild Moss, a once-promising painter turned weary art dealer, who becomes captivated by the final painting of a deceased, reclusive genius, Norris Bainbridge. The titular Seren, model, muse, maybe something more, appears as both a literal woman and a haunting symbol, driving Moss to unravel the truth behind the painting’s strange power. The book shifts between boozy lunches, high-art pretensions, urban decay, and moments of surreal introspection, all with a painterly eye for mood and detail.

What stood out to me most was the writing. It’s deft, sardonic, and at times almost hallucinatory. Gooch has a knack for painting with words, which fits, given his background as a visual artist. The prose rolls like jazz, sometimes smooth and stylish, other times jarring. Characters pop with distinctive quirks, and the dialogue hits that tricky sweet spot of sounding real without being mundane. Moss’s ruminations and side quests, though full of voice, sometimes slow the story. Still, I couldn’t help but be drawn into Moss’s unraveling, both in his investigation and in his own midlife malaise.

The real kicker, though, is the way Seren plays with the idea of the muse, not as a passive, dreamy figure, but as a living force that might inspire or destroy. Seren’s presence is slippery, both ethereal and grounded in flesh and snow and paint. The book doesn’t spell her out, and that ambiguity works. It makes you lean forward, ask questions, and doubt your own reading. I loved how it blurred the line between inspiration and possession, between art and madness. It feels like a meditation on how far someone might go to touch something real in a world of reproductions and sales tags.

I’d recommend Seren to readers who like their mysteries with layers, who don’t mind a story that flirts with the surreal and doesn’t tie every thread into a tidy bow. Artists and art lovers will find plenty to chew on, but even if you’ve never set foot in a gallery, the book’s humanity and humor are what really shine.

Pages: 378 | ASIN: B0DZBLG3Q8