Braided Shame: A Mystery Novel (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781439207901)

A Native Virginian, Louis Briel was schooled in the Classics. He earned degrees from Hampden-Sydney College as first-honor graduate and Harvard University as a Woodrow Wilson Fellow. An internationally acclaimed portrait painter, his art training includes a certificate from the American Academy in Rome and study in Boston with Ann Tabachnick and Morton Sacks. The Smithsonian Institution in 1993 acquired Briel's painting of tennis great Arthur Ashe for the National Portrait Gallery. In 1995 the U. S. House of Representatives added his portrait of Congressman Thomas J. Bliley to its collection. Briel's haunting likeness of Princess Diana accompanied Elton John on his 1997-98 world tour and is now part of the singer's personal collection. It is featured in Diana in Art, compiled by Mem Mehmet (Chaucer Press 2007). More recently, Briel has worked with Carol Burnett to create a posthumous portrait of her daughter Carrie Hamilton, which hangs in the Carrie Hamilton Theatre at the Pasadena Playhouse. Briel's artwork can be seen on his website www.louisbriel.com Briel's first novel, Braided Shame, a mystery, was published in 2008 and is available on Amazon.com