Ron McLarty

Art In America chosen as a Pick of the Month in the August edition of bookviews.com by it's editor, Alan Caruba "This is one of those novels where you find yourself laughing at the wonderful dialogue and crazy situations. McLarty has written two previous well-received novels and this one will surely be as well."

Art in America, a funny and affectionate story about a down-on-his-luck writer who finally finds success and love.

Middle-aged New York writer Steven Kearney is down on his luck. He has written thousands of pages of novels, plays, and poems--not a single one of which has ever been published. After being thrown out of his Manhattan apartment, Kearney takes shelter with his longtime pal Roarke, an actress and director. One day, out of the blue, he’s offered a position as playwright-in-residence for three months at the Creedemore Historical Society in rural southern Colorado, which wants him to write and direct a historical play about the town. But when he arrives, all hell breaks loose.

A dispute between and elderly landowner, Tricky Lettgo, and a young man named Red Fields escalates into a battle that pits local ranchers against a fringe antiproperty group. Town sheriff Petey Meyers, newly transplanted from Boston and still haunted by the death of his police partner there, tries to keep the peace. As the national media descend, the most extreme member of the activist group hatches a diabolical plan that threatens the very safety of the town. Amid all the tumult, Kearney, with the inspiration of a local painter and cancer survisor named Mollie Dowie, and with some last-minute directorial assistance from Roarke, produces a play that brilliantly capture the history of the town.