Barbara Lipkin, Naperville BELLA SARVER MYSTERY SERIES Barbara Lipkin, a long-time resident of Naperville, has always enjoyed writing stories, short and long, but never worked on getting them published. Recently, a friend introduced her to a local chapter of NANOWRIMO (National Novel Writing Month), a group that challenges its members to write a novel of at least 50,000 words in the month of November. She took up the challenge, and wrote a draft of Painting Lessons, the first book in her published Bella Sarver Mystery Series.
Painting Lessons is about an artist, Bella Sarver, who lives in the fictional town of Deer Creek, west of Chicago, and teaches painting. She takes her students on a painting holiday to Tuscany, and when one of them ends up murdered, Bella uses her knowledge of art and painting to discover “whodunit”. Barbara’s second book, Brush with Death, continues with Bella and her artist adventures, and of course, another murder to solve.
Although Barbara spent her career in nursing, she always enjoyed painting. After retiring, she began to seriously pursue that vocation. Her work can be found in many private and corporate collections and local art shows, and she also teaches painting at the Naperville Art League. Painting being such a passion of hers, she enjoys bringing it to life in many ways through her mystery series. Every time she starts writing a book, more ideas for new stories start bubbling up.
The Bella Sarver Mystery Series books are published through Amazon’s Create Space and Kindle Direct Publishing. They can be found on the Amazon website, through the Naperville Art League, the Local Author shelf at the Naperville Library. Just recently, Anderson’s Bookstore in Naperville have also added the books to their collection. – Mindy Kyle
