Free The Gossiping Gourmet: (A Murder in Marin Mystery - Book 1) (Murder in Marin Mysteries) by Martin Brown Page A

cake sales, and silly gossip.”

    To Warren’s view, damaging
Barbara’s social standing was the low hanging fruit. He was certain that he
needed to be more careful regarding what he said about Grant Randolph.
    It was difficult to control
his urge to undermine Grant’s standing in town. He was intimidated by and
envious of Grant. Intimidated by the simple fact that, as much as he prided
himself on knowing all there was to know about fine food, music, and art, he
could never hope to compete with Grant’s knowledge of fine art.
    During the arts commission’s
outing to San Francisco’s Legion of Honor to celebrate Grant’s appointment and
to see the well-reviewed retrospective on the work of Danish-French
Impressionist Camille Pissarro, it was to Grant that everyone directed their
questions, especially after he corrected the older man’s faux pas as they
walked along, viewing the museum’s impressive collection.
    “It’s not Matisse you’re
referring to, it’s Manet,” was one of Grant’s admonishments of Warren. Another
time, he declared, “No, no, no, that’s not a portrait by the American master
John Singer Sargent. It’s the work of Anders Zorn, Sweden’s greatest painter…”
    Catching the sly smiles of
the others, Warren realized that his unquestioned position as a learned man of
great culture and refinement was now in question.
    It also didn’t help that
Grant looked the role that Warren so desperately coveted. The younger man’s
buff physique was envied by men and admired by women. His shirts fit him
perfectly, doing little to hide a strong flat stomach. Warren could just
imagine his rival’s washboard abs. His shoulders were massive, and when he
crossed his arms, his biceps were certainly as impressive as the rest of him.
    All of which fed Warren’s
resentment of this obviously handsome and successful man.

    His one shining hope in the
dismantling of this bronzed statue of a man was that Alma and the Ladies of
Liberty no doubt felt that the husband of Barbara Grant could not be much
better than she was.
    “Both of them are a little full
of themselves, don’t you think?” was Robin Mitchell’s question for the other
women on any committee she served. Whether it was the Library Ladies Auxiliary,
the Waterfront Beautification Association, or several other groups, Robin
Mitchell, following Warren Bradley’s lead, felt it her place to sound the alarm
that these two immigrants from the “cutthroat business of Manhattan art
galleries are to be embraced only with the greatest of caution.”
    Robin enjoyed speculating
with Warren that perhaps the two of them were involved in the sale of forged
artworks or other nefarious crimes.
    “What a delicious scandal
that would be,” Warren told her, as his gray eyes lit up and his aging face
broke into a smile.

CHAPTER
NINE
     
    Some, but not nearly all, of
the storm warnings regarding the Randolph’s social standing blew back in the
direction of Barbara and Grant. What little did, they took as one more example
of Debbie’s advice regarding, “small towns with even smaller minds.”
    But as much as Grant still
enjoyed his work in Sausalito’s small, but very active art scene, and as much
as Barbara continued to say she loved their home and frequently put up pictures
on her laptop’s wallpaper of views from their patio, the town’s insular nature
began to wear on both of them.
    Of more concern was the fact
that the two of them, once inseparable, had begun over the past months to spin
more actively in distinctively different circles.
    Barbara thoroughly enjoyed
working with Anna Moss. Even at seventy-two, the gallery owner moved with
ceaseless energy. Her passion reinvigorated all Barbara loved and missed about
the art world.
    Regularly, Anna would come to
Barbara with a digital portfolio of a new artist and ask her opinion. “Is he
too daring for us?” was invariably Anna’s first question. “I think of our
artists as a blend of different flavors,