COKER, Carolyn

(Allison Cole)

PERSONAL: Born in Tulsa, OK; daughter of Samuel Bennet (an owner of a wholesale business) and Bernice (a teacher; maiden name, Woods) Cole; married Franklin C. Coker (a tax consultant; divorced); children: Cal. Education: University of Oklahoma, B.A.; graduate study at Southern Methodist University and Tulane University.

ADDRESSES: Home—90 Coburn Ave., Sierra Madre, CA 91024. Office—California Institute of Technology, 1201 E. California Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91125. Agent—Shelly Wile, Triad Artists, 10100 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90067.

CAREER: Writer. Television actress and administrator.

WRITINGS:

The Other David: A Novel of Suspense, Dodd, Mead (New York, NY), 1984.

(Under pseudonym Allison Cole) Back toward Lisbon (novel), Dodd, Mead (New York, NY), 1985.

The Vines of Ferrara: A Novel of Suspense, Dodd, Mead (New York, NY), 1986.

The Hand of the Lion: A Novel of Suspense, Dodd, Mead (New York, NY), 1988.

The Balmoral Nude (novel), St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1990.

Appearance of Evil (novel), St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1993.

SIDELIGHTS: Carolyn Coker, a television actress and administrator, is also the creator of Andrea Perkins—a Harvard University art historian and restorer of paintings-turned-sleuth. The protagonist of a handful of novels, Perkins uses her erudite knowledge of art and the museum world to solve crimes in Italy and America. In the debut novel, The Other David: A Novel of Suspense, Perkins is on sabbatical leave from her teaching position. While working at the Galleria dell' Academia in Florence, Italy, a strange man gives her a painting, which she eventually discovers was painted by Michelangelo. The work caught the attention of reviewers, including Marcia Muller, who appraised it in 1001 Midnights: The Aficionado's Guide to Mystery and Detective Fiction: The author gives readers "a fascinating glimpse into the art world, from the techniques of the masters to computer technology." Library Journal contributor Jean B. Palmer described the work as more of a romance than a mystery because sparks fly between Perkins and Aldo Balzani, a New Orleans-born captain of the Florence detective squad. Palmer also cited several flaws in the novel, such as weak characterizations and plot.

Coker continued to hone her skills and in 1986 and 1987 published sequels, also set in Italy. The Vines of Ferrara: A Novel of Suspense, follows Coker as she stumbles over a corpse while at a Ferrarian villa restoring a set of Tarot cards owned by one Carlo Gonzaga, and in The Hand of the Lion: A Novel of Suspense, Perkins teams up again with Balzani to thwart the would-be thieves of an Egyptian death mask housed at St. Mark's Basilica in Venice. A Publishers Weekly critic called The Vines of Ferrara "competently written" albeit unsurprising, and Library Journal contributor Jo Ann Vicarel, called it "enjoyable but predictable." Although a Publishers Weekly reviewer also noted the brevity of The Hand of the Lion, he thought the interactions of the "robust characters" bring "luster and depth" to the narrative.

In The Balmoral Nude, art historian Perkins hops the English Channel to restore several Victorian sketches owned by a family whose ancestor was involved in a crime of passion. While there, Perkins becomes surrounded in contemporary crimes, including theft and murder. Library Journal reviewer Rex E. Klett called The Balmoral Nude "serviceably written," though marred by a "weak ending," and Sybil Steinberg of Publishers Weekly noted a lack of originality and narrative tension, yet described the novel as a "light but interesting read."

Perkins returns to America in Appearance of Evil, set in a Los Angeles museum, where one morning a guard finds a murdered man on the grounds. Perkins ends up playing a somewhat peripheral role as two Los Angeles police officers, Lopez and Robeson, take control of the investigation—and the novel's plot. While a Kirkus Reviews contributor compared Appearance of Evil unfavorably with The Balmoral Nude, a Publishers Weekly critic praised the novel's "top-notch characterization, authoritative use of setting, and … accelerating pace." Booklist reviewer Emily Melton found the work overall "mildly entertaining" and cited what she considered to be adequately developed characters and a "deviously twisted and sometimes confusing plot."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

books

Pronzini, Bill and Marcia Muller, 1001 Midnights: The Aficionado's Guide to Mystery and Detective Fiction, Arbor House (New York, NY), 1986.

periodicals

Booklist, May 1, 1993, Emily Melton, review of Appearance of Evil, pp. 1572-1573.

Kirkus Reviews, September 1, 1990, review of The Balmoral Nude, p. 1209; March 15, 1993, review of Appearance of Evil, p. 333; May 1, 1993, review of Appearance of Evil, p. 1572.

Library Journal, September 1, 1984, Jean B. Palmer, review of The Other David, p. 1688; July 1, 1986, Jo Ann Vicarel, review of The Vines of Ferrara, p. 115; September 1, 1990, Rex E. Klett, review of The Balmoral Nude, p. 260.

Los Angeles Times Book Review, February 10, 1991, review of The Balmoral Nude, p. 9.

Publishers Weekly, 1986, review of The Vines of Ferrara; 1987, review of The Hand of the Lion: A Novel of Suspense; August 24, 1990, Sybil Steinberg, review of The Balmoral Nude, p. 58; March 22, 1993, review of Appearance of Evil, p. 74.*