Art Icon Reba White Williams Author Event at Diane's Books

Reba White Williams is an icon in the American art world having served as President of the New York City Art Commission, sat on several print committees of art museums across the country, and donated with her husband the largest private collection of prints by American artists to the National Gallery.

Now, Reba is bringing her art expertise to the writing world with her debut thriller Restrike.

Meet this amazing author face to face at Diane's Books on June 15th from 10:00-11:30 a.m. for the local launch of her book. 

But first, here is a sneak peak interview with this awesome author!

For those who haven’t read it yet, where does the first book in the series take off?

Coleman Greene is the editor of an influential arts magazine, where she discovers a staff writer is selling story ideas to a competitor. Her cousin Dinah owns a print gallery in Greenwich Village that has slipped into the red. When billionaire Heyward Bain announces plans to fund a fine art print museum, Coleman is eager to publish an exclusive article about it, and Dinah hopes to sell him prints. But swindlers invade the art world to grab some of Bain’s money, and a print dealer dies under mysterious circumstances. Risking her own life, Coleman sets out to unravel the last deception threatening her, her friends, and the once-tranquil world of fine art prints.

Who are your favorite mystery writers and books?

            Agatha Christie, Josephine Tey, Dorothy L. Sayers, Margaret Maron, Elizabeth George and Thomas Perry (the Jane Whitefield novels), to name a few. Early readers have compared Restrike to the work of some of those authors. I am honored to be thought of in a league with these greats.

What do you think makes a good mystery story?

            Plot, suspense, an appealing setting, and above all, engaging characters. An opportunity to learn about an occupation is also a plus. Margaret Maron’s series set in North Carolina is a good example—the main character is a judge, and the reader learns a lot about the challenges of her profession. The plots of Jane Cleland’s Josie Prescott antiques mysteries are suspenseful and exciting, and also teach the reader about dealing in antiques.

How much of the fictional story you tell in Restrike is based on your own life?

Restrike is set in the New York art world, which I came to know through print collecting, and my time on the New York City Art Commission. My two young protagonists moved to New York City from North Carolina after college, as I did. One runs a fine art print gallery (I’ve spent a lot of time in similar galleries), and one edits and publishes an art magazine (a field I know because I’ve written for art magazines). Much of the book is based on my experiences. The art in the book is both real and made-up. Only print experts will know the difference.

What exactly is a “restrike”?

            An example: Rembrandt made his own prints—he drew on the etching plate with a needle, inked the plate, and ran it through a press to print on paper. Because he was a great artist and printmaker, his prints are very valuable. After his death, others took his plates and made prints from them—these are called “restrikes,” and are of little value. However, an unscrupulous dealer might sell a restrike to an unknowing collector as an original. Artists usually avoid this problem by marring or destroying their plates, or scrubbing their drawings off their lithograph stones, once the original prints have been made.

Let’s talk about Muffin and how big of a role your adorable dog played in shaping part of your mystery series.

            Muffin is my fourth Maltese. They have all been faithful, loving, brave, very smart, and wonderful companions. Dolly, Coleman’s Maltese in Restrike, is a composite of the four dogs I’ve owned, but I confess she’s better behaved than any of mine. She never barks, except for an emergency. My dogs have all been very yappy. I wanted Coleman—a loner—to have a pet, and I didn’t think she was a cat person. Giving her a Maltese was perfect. Dolly is a tiny dog, so Coleman can take her nearly everywhere. Many New York women do this. I know one who takes her dog to the museum where she works.

You came to New York with very little money in your pocket, just pure ambition. Why did you want to move, and where did you find the courage to do it?

            There were no jobs in North Carolina that appealed to me. I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do, but I knew from reading novels that there were many opportunities in New York. So I came to New York and before I looked for a job, I thought hard about my skills and experience—what I had to offer an employer. I was an English major, and had worked part-time in libraries. I decided to focus on library jobs, and my first job was in the library of an advertising agency.

            As for courage, I wasn’t brave, but I was determined. I also had some friends in New York—former classmates—so I wasn’t completely alone.

You still spend lots of time down south. How do the different cultures of New York City and the cozy southern towns you’ve lived in influence your writing?

            I love the South. I like the gardens and flowers—azaleas, camellias, the scent of magnolias, the vivid colors of crepe myrtles. I like the food—some of the best cooks in the world are in the South. I like the sound of southern voices—soft, slow. I like the beautiful sandy beaches. Small soft waves and warm water, and the flocks of sea birds.

            As to New York, I love the pace, the excitement, the constant charge, and the extraordinary opportunities. I enjoy the theatre, the museums, meeting the authors and artists whose work I admire.

            I try to blend the South and the North in my books. Scents, food, accents and attitudes are perhaps more southern than northern. But New York is the background—where my characters live—where their apartments, their restaurants, their offices and their adventures are.

Is there anything you can tell us about the next book in your Coleman and Dinah Greene series?

The cousins are tackling new challenges as Fatal Impressions opens. Coleman has acquired a second magazine, First Home, to publish along with her first love, ArtSmart. And Dinah’s print gallery has moved to mid-Manhattan, where she is struggling with higher costs. A contract to buy and install prints in the offices of DDD&W, a prestigious management consulting firm, could guarantee the Greene Gallery’s future.

            But the firm is a dark, unhappy place of cutthroat competition and internal culture clash with a hostile art curator. And when Dinah discovers one of their employees crushed beneath a fallen bookcase, she becomes first on the police list of suspects.

            Like its predecessor Restrike, Fatal Impressions combines suspense with insights into the high-priced worlds of New York business and art collecting with Coleman and Dinah as sleuths and guides.