"Carmel Pine Cone" reporter Nora Finnegan is back! "A Brush with Death", the 5th installment in Kathryn Gualtieri's historical mystery series, offers a snapshot of Carmel-by-the-Sea in 1929 at the outset of the Great Depression and its terrible effect on the artist colony. Jobs are scarce. Money is tight. There is talk of issuing local scrip. Amid the promises from the candidates vying for seats on the Carmel City Council, a prominent Socialist and former resident stirs up confrontation as a solution to the villagers' plight. Using her investigating skills, Nora discovers that some are resorting to art fraud, blackmail, and even murder, to survive. In addition to the novel, Gualtieri has appended a non-fictional essay that offers a centennial year tribute to community activist and former publisher of the "Carmel Pine Cone", Perry Newberry.