Kate Belli, the author of the popular Gilded Gotham mystery series, makes her thriller debut with THE GALLERY ASSISTANT. This intriguing novel is set in post-9/11 New York, where a young woman traumatized by the attack on her city unwittingly uncovers a dangerous mystery unfolding in Manhattan’s Upper East Side art world. 

It’s a refrain that almost anyone who has ever had one too many drinks can recite from memory: How did I get home last night? As twenty-something Chloe Harlow wakes up in her apartment in November 2001, it’s not the first time that month she’s thinking it...or even the first time that week. Like most of her fellow New Yorkers, Chloe is still reeling from the shock of 9/11. Living among artists and wannabe artists in slowly gentrifying Williamsburg, there is always someone ready to drink away the shock with you, to chain-smoke cigarettes in a dusty dive and pretend that it’s the only smoke you’ve seen recently.

Chloe isn’t a total trainwreck. She recently has been promoted to assistant to the curator at Fletcher & Sons, an exclusive art gallery that collects and sells mostly French impressionism and early modern artists, like Picasso. But as the “Fletcher” of her company’s name has started to age, Henry’s “Sons” --- aka his daughter, Sloane --- have begun to take greater leaps into contemporary art, including the artist Inga Beck. A prominent up-and-comer in the city’s art scene, Inga is a huge investment for the gallery that seems to be paying off, as evidenced by the killer party she threw the night before to celebrate the completion of her latest series. That’s the party where Chloe apparently drank so much that she has no idea how she got home.

"Kate Belli has written a mystery that is both immersive and creative, heartfelt and propulsive.... Perfect for readers of Julia Bartz and Michele Campbell, THE GALLERY ASSISTANT announces an exciting new voice in suspense fiction."

But Chloe’s hangover takes on a deadly edge when she arrives at work to find two NYPD detectives questioning the gallery employees. She soon learns that Inga was murdered the night before. Unable to remember if she spoke to Inga or saw something important, Chloe has only one fleeting memory of the night --- Inga right in front of Chloe’s face, looking with terror at something over Chloe’s shoulder --- and her roommate’s description that she was “getting awfully friendly with some guy” when he left.

An uneasy Chloe promises that she knows nothing (which is true) and continues on with her life. After all, the show must go on when it comes to Inga’s exhibition opening, and the gallery is scheduled to attend a major Sotheby’s auction before that. Though it disgusts her, even Chloe can admit that prices for Inga’s work are about to skyrocket. No artist makes as much money as a dead one.

But as the hangover wears off, Chloe’s life only gets weirder. At the auction, she is tasked with soaking it all in, learning the skills that one day will make her an expert curator or gallerist. But she’s not the only one shocked when her bosses, Henry and Sloane, make an exorbitant $20 million bid on a Monet for an undisclosed buyer. Lou, her direct boss, seems unusually relieved at the purchase, muttering things about how the gallery “needed” that and will be “fine now.”

Rooting through her coat later that day, Chloe finds a scrap of paper with an address and Inga’s name written on it. Did Inga give this to her at the party? Did a stranger mistakenly put it there? Or did Chloe herself write that out while she was drunk? Then, when reviewing some of Inga’s final work in preparation for the opening, she discovers a message hidden within the larger brushstrokes: HELP ME.

Shortly after Thanksgiving, only weeks after Inga’s death, Lou abruptly leaves the company and vanishes without a trace. It’s clear that something strange is going on. But between wading through her blacked-out memories, navigating New York City’s elite art world, and grappling with her undiagnosed PTSD, Chloe can’t figure out what she may or may not be involved in. It is only when the Fletchers offer her Lou’s former role as curator, promising her that her name will be tied to their biggest exhibit ever --- Inga's --- that Chloe realizes one thing for sure. She is being bribed, maybe even blackmailed. And thanks to her spotty memory, she may never know why.

The city is already tense, with conspiracy theories and hate crimes cropping up on every corner, so Chloe’s paranoia takes on an unsettling weight, immersing both her and the reader into a suffocating sense of dread. Every single memory she uncovers is refuted by someone close to her. And none of the stories she knows or is being told add up, except one: Inga knew her murder was coming and left clues behind that only Chloe seems to be able to identify. But in a world where terror organizations can wipe out entire cities and mysterious buyers hide millions of dollars in art trades, why would one young woman --- a very often drunk one at that --- be believed?

Kate Belli has written a mystery that is both immersive and creative, heartfelt and propulsive. Her choice of post-9/11 New York City as a setting is a bold one. It’s ambitious in scope, but rather than exploiting what happened, she successfully employs it to elevate her narrative, immediately grounding her reader in a world of tragedy and strength, fear and hope. Chloe is immediately relatable --- a college dropout who has found herself in the world of the elite, people who drop $50,000 on a simple drawing like it is nothing, and she is understandably drawn to the power and sophistication they present. At the same time, the fact that she lives in slowly gentrifying Williamsburg separates her from this crowd, highlighting her need for stability, which eventually drives her to solve Inga’s murder.

Setting up this strong framework for her mystery, Belli then whisks the reader away at breakneck speed as clues about Inga’s life before her death are revealed, unimaginable sums of money are traded, and dark truths about the gallery are exposed. At first glance, this may sound like a story you’ve heard before, or at least one you can probably figure out. However, Belli is a truly skilled writer who is adept at layering one mystery on top of the other, showing the killers in plain sight while hiding others in the shadows. Through it all, her portrayal of Chloe’s fractured memory, frayed by both alcoholism and trauma, is a tender throughline that reminds us of the fragility of the mind.

Perfect for readers of Julia Bartz and Michele Campbell, THE GALLERY ASSISTANT announces an exciting new voice in suspense fiction.