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Exploiting You Again

Hey, remember all those good times we had brainstorming stuff in here, like how to get rid of a dead body? Yeah, I’m back again. We’re thinking of using the word “frame” in the titles for the new series. We think, maybe, the first one is called Breaking the Frame (which is a very cool art technique) but we need two more. Maybe a play on Frame of Mind, changing Mind to something else. Another one we’re thinking of is Frame Up. The first book is about faking provenances, the second is about forging paintings, and the third is about art theft. The entire series MAY be called the Joan of Art series, but we’re still not sure. So, any suggestions?

(Note: My favorite example of breaking the frame is Banksy’s Love is in the Bin, but the stuff that Andrew Scott does is fun, too.)

53 Responses

  1. Your titles are always so apropos of the stories.
    It is interesting to see your thinking on titles.

    On another subject…..will any of your recent titles be published as audio books? I would really like to “read” your latest books, but finding a reader can be a problem. Please let me know if I can hope for audio editions.

    1. The Liz/Vince books (Lavender’s Blue, etc.) are all on audio. The Rocky Start books will be out this summer, I think. Brilliance got the book the same time as you did, so now they have to format a script and get the narrators in the studio, etc.

  2. I think there was a Dick Francis book called In the Frame.

    For the play on Frame of Mind, maybe Frame of Matter (like mind over matter)? Or Frame of Crime? Frame of Reference?

    Frame of Death refers to the active stage of dying…
    There is a term called Frame of Relativity (which includes of implies the coordinate time)

    Frame of Fire can be a situation where someone is falsely accused or incriminated, which might go with the crime theme (being framed)

  4. The Art of Framing
    A Frame to Remember
    The Frame Job
    Framed and Exposed
    Frame Me
    A Frame Too Far
    Framed Beyond Repair
    A Brush with Framing
    It’s All About the Framing
    Framed and Unfinished
    Life Through the Frame

    Love these games! 😁

  6. The frame game
    Reframing the problem
    Into the frame
    Open borders
    Who’ll stop the frame
    Frame and fortune

  10. Don’t like Joan of Art. Sorry.

    Framed
    Framing Her/You/People

    ‘Frame’ also means ‘pull yourself together’ or ‘do it right’ in Yorkshire (I can hear my mother telling me to).

  11. Most of what I thought of overnight has been suggested already. My most off the wall thought was Ethan Framed, which would require both a character named Ethan and enough readers remembering the Wharton title.

  12. I suppose I should open FRAMING IT… I mean FAKING IT to look up that guy that invented his own civilization to fake pottery. Not Gonna. But it inspires “Frame of Mayan.”

      1. I like It’s All About the Framing for the one about faking provenance.

        Frame and Fortune or Faux Frames could fit the book about forgeries.

        Frame by Frame, Out of Frame, or Only the Frame could all work for the art theft book.

        I’m not excited by Joan of Art for the series title. It’s clever, but it doesn’t sound like contemporary romantic suspense to me.

  14. Freeze frame.

    Frozen out of an investigation because of a frame-up? Caught in a snowstorm (or a freezer) while under suspicion? False evidence planted in a freezer?

    1. Artfully framed?

      And now I will spend the rest of the day thinking about options…

  16. Frame of reference for the one on provenance. Because you are “framing” the references aka the supporting material for the painting.

  17. Frame the right question / Framing the question. (The right question to ask to solve the case, and possibly also to clarify a relationship and move it forward. )

    The frame is the question / The frame in question. (Sometimes a frame is more valuable than the painting; frames also can conceal things inside.)

    OW Cherry beat me to Frame of reference, although I was thinking more of a pun on its physics meaning. (Reference aids altered to make an innocent person look like a forger or crooked art dealer?)

  18. I’m going with the art theme:

    The Art of Deception
    The Art of Imitation
    The Art of Confiscation

    I guess you could put Framing in front of those, instead of “The Art of..”

    Or, Framing the Deceit, Framing the Facsimile, Framing the Thief

  20. The Frame Game
    Life’s a Frame
    Shouldering the Frame
    Shifting the Frame
    Two Can Play That Frame
    Ahead of the Frame
    It’s Anyone’s Frame
    Just out of Frame
    Beat at his/her own Frame
    Frame of Chance
    Frame Changer
    Skin in the Frame
    It’s All Fun and Frames

  21. Thanks for the fun Sunday wordplay!
    I frame my own work – so maybe something from that exercise:

    Crooked Frame (Warped Frame)
    Guilt Frame
    Cut Corners
    Bevel Cut
    Floater Frame
    Glazed and Framed
    Varnish of Truth

    Other ideas:

    Portrait of Crime
    Still Life Frame
    Still Life with Dead Birds (or whatever)
    Landscape of Deception
    Lie of the Landscape
    Blot on the Landscape

    Palette Knife
    Etched in blood
    Dirty Brushwork
    Patina of Age / Sophistication
    Surface Patina

    Hue and Cry
    Neutral Tint

    Framed and Defamed
    Seen Through the Frame
    Hanging Frame
    How to Hang a Frame
    How to Paint a Frame

    Surreal Frame
    Framed Impressions
    Abstract Frame

    Watching Paint Dry (I do a lot of that)

    1. ooh I love moths to a frame! It also made me laugh, but it feels right for an art theft series

  25. Slight modification of on of Helen’s:

    Frameout

    A sudden failure of push in an investigation due to a frame-up, perhaps. If jet planes or rockets are somehow involved, so much the better. Maybe the crash due to engine failure of a jet carrying an artwork, with the art unrecovered, and somebody unfairly blamed for the crash and theft.

  27. Hello. Long-term lurker and first time commenting here. This is a fun question. These are my offerings:

    Framing Effect/Framing Fallacy (referring also to the cognitive fallacy. Eg often seen in food labelling – so ‘90% fat free’ is often perceived as better than ‘10% fat’)

    Framing Intent

    Frameless

    Frame Sight (or maybe In Frame Sight – being both a play on words and referring to the inside edge of a picture frame)

    Picture Frame

    You’ve been Framed (although I should note that this is also the title of a UK comedy series originally from the 1990s)

  29. You could easily play with the wording – I see someone has thought of it already. Titles like “Frame and Fortune,” Frame and Found” “To Frame a Thief”. Well I don’t know what your plots are, but you could play around with well known phrases or titles.

    Enjoying the new book!

  30. Don’t have anything to add given the many clever things already suggested. The series sounds great-I love it when you write about art. But like someone mentioned above, I don’t care for Joan of Art. It sounds a little forced and stodgy.

  31. Re-framing the [fill in desired pun].
    I love the concept seeing something with new eyes that’s around you every day … until something changes and suddenly it’s completely new to you – but really what’s changed is yourself, the viewer

About the Author

Jennifer Crusie is the New York Times, USA Today, and Publisher’s Weekly bestselling author and co-author of twenty-three novels, one book of literary criticism, miscellaneous articles, essays, novellas, and short stories, and the editor of three essay anthologies. She lives in a cottage in Pennsylvania, where she often stares at the ceiling and counts her blessings.

Find out more about Jenny’s published works by visiting JennyCrusie.com

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