The Painter

The Painter is a 2014 literary novel by Peter Heller. Though Heller has written several other novels, he is primarily a journalist for outlets such as NPR and National Geographic. The Painter won the Colorado Book Award and the Reading the West Book Award. It was also named an Amazon Top Twenty book in 2014.

Narrator Jim Stegner is a successful and acclaimed artist living in the Southwest. The novel begins with a story from when Stegner was younger and drinking in a bar in New Mexico. Lauder Simms, another customer in the bar, began to recount his recent arrest and acquittal for raping an underage girl. When Lauder compliments Jim’s daughter Alce, Jim shoots him, though Lauder does not die.

Jim employs Sofia to be his artist’s model. Sofia has large breasts but no last name that Jim ever mentions. When Sofia comes over to model, she and Jim flirt, but Jim becomes uncomfortable when Sofia jokes that she is younger than him. Later, Jim’s agent, Steve, calls him. Their conversation reveals that Jim has had problems with drugs and alcohol in the past, but he is sober now. After the conversation, Jim leaves to go fishing. On the way, he gets in a fight with a man abusing a horse and then adopts the horse as his own.



When Jim returns home with the horse, he talks to his friend Bob Reid about the incident. Bob tells him that the horse abuser is Dellwood Siminoe, a hunter and poacher who has a history of violent behavior. Jim admits that he is worried about the fight with Dellwood because it may represent a return to the violent behavior that led him to shoot Lauder.

The next day, Sofia comes over and she and Jim have sex. Jim is worried that he is being unprofessional and also that Sofia has a boyfriend. Since he can’t sleep, Jim goes fishing late at night. He sees Dellwood alone by the creek and kills him with a rock. Jim cleans up the murder scene and goes back home without being seen.

The next day, two detectives arrive to question Jim. One of them notices blood on his fishing vest, and Jim admits that it is probably Dellwood’s blood, though he claims it probably got there when he and Dellwood fought. He denies going fishing the night before. After the detectives leave, Sofia comes out of the bedroom and tells Jim that she will be his alibi for the night before.  When Jim meets Bob later, Bob also seems to know instinctively that Jim is the killer but doesn’t go to the police.



Jim receives a call threatening his life because of his involvement in Dellwood’s murder. Sofia thinks that it must be Grant, Dellwood’s brother. Jim sends Sofia away for her own safety. He leaves to drive to Santa Fe, but along the way, he meets Jason, a member of Dellwood’s hunting camp who threatens him but ultimately lets him continue on.

In Santa Fe, Jim begins work on a portrait commission for a wealthy fan of his art. The police have already been by looking for Jim, who assures Steve that he did not kill anyone. Jason has followed Jim to Santa Fe, and Jim begins to see him around town as he works. The Santa Fe police detective who investigated Alce’s murder stops by to talk to Jim about Dellwood and Grant. He seems sympathetic to Jim, but also suspects that he is the murderer.

A few days later, Jim is in the house of the Pantellas’, his wealthy client. As he is about to reveal the portrait he has made, someone begins shooting at the house. Jim calls the police and then runs outside to draw the gunfire away. The shooter flees before Jim can see him; Jim feels guilty for putting the Pantella family in danger. When Jim leaves, Grant follows and attacks him. Jim shoots him dead in self-defense.



The police suspect Jim of the second murder as well but still have no concrete evidence. Jason continues to follow Jim, but he still does not move to take revenge. Jim stays in Santa Fe for the unveiling of his commissioned painting, and Sofia comes to keep him company. Jim is the subject of a lot of media coverage because of his involvement in the killings, which is driving up the price of his paintings.

A couple of weeks later, Jim returns home. One evening, while he is fishing, he is confronted by Jason who tells him that he is Dellwood and Grant’s nephew. He says that he didn’t always agree with his uncle’s violent ways but that they were his family. Though he does not kill Jim, he tells him that he will continue to watch him and he might change his mind one day, then he leaves Jim alone.