''Shadow Image'' is a

crime novel Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a professional detective, of a crime, ...

by the

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

writer Martin J. Smith (1956-) set in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. It tells the story of psychologist Jim Christensen's work with Alzheimer's patients and his studies in

repressed memory Repressed memory is an inability to recall autobiographical information, usually of a traumatic or stressful nature. The concept originated in psychoanalytic theory where repression is defined as a protective mechanism that excludes memory of ...

. Now, his most famous patient, the grand matriarch of a powerful political family, has injured herself in a fall. As Christensen studies his patient's art therapy paintings, he unveils a secret locked within the woman's mind that could destroy her family's political ambitions.

Sources

''Contemporary Authors Online''. The Gale Group, 2006. PEN (Permanent Entry Number): 0000132047.

External links

Martin J. Smith website
1998 American novels American crime novels Novels set in Pittsburgh Berkley Books books {{1990s-crime-novel-stub