The Graffiti Sculptor is a novel about a streetwise young sculptor with a lump in her breast who secretly begins carving her art on the sides of buildings in downtown Dallas. Almost overnight, her art gains a following, not because it's beautiful, it's not, but because her sculptures can heal. A nationally known televangelist and faith healer, Pastor Sammy Gann, sees the healing art as bad for business and will do anything to keep the public from putting a face to the saintly deeds. Any face, that is, other than his. The Graffiti Sculptor is a about a streetwise young sculptor with a lump in her breast who secretly begins carving her art on the sides of buildings in downtown Dallas. Almost overnight, her art gains a following, not because it's beautiful, it's not, but because her sculptures can heal. A nationally known televangelist and faith healer, Pastor Sammy Gann, sees the healing art as bad for business and will do anything to keep the public from putting a face to the saintly deeds. Any face, that is, other than his. Shinder gives a nuanced portrait of an artist living in the lofts of downtown Dallas. More specifically, Miranda Tate lives in an area known as Deep Ellum, an entertainment and arts district east of downtown (east of Elm, thus east Ellum) once a mecca for jazz and blues artists. Readers who like Jonathan Lethem s edgy Motherless Brooklyn or Elmore Leonard s gritty Get Shorty will come away from The Graffiti Sculptor with that same giddiness. There s no denying the sheer, anarchic hilarity of these characters. The Graffiti Sculptor manages to come across as both clear-eyed and bighearted, able to illuminate and celebrate, in the midst of the most unpromising circumstances imaginable. --BlueWood Publishing HARD TO PUT DOWN ...There s a crime here, which is all well and good, but what got me was the way this woman looks at the world. The way she keeps fighting off the bad guys. The respect she has for herself in the process...A great ending to a great book. -- Gary Newton, Sergeant, Grand Prairie Police Department ENTERTAINING ...It s about a woman who carves up the sides of buildings with an ax, and I loved every minute of it. -- Billy Adams, Retired Chief Deputy Sheriff HARD TO PUT DOWN ...There s a crime here, which is all well and good, but what got me was the way this woman looks at the world. The way she keeps fighting off the bad guys. The respect she has for herself in the process...A great ending to a great book. -- Gary Newton, Sergeant, Grand Prairie Police Department ENTERTAINING ...It s about a woman who carves up the sides of buildings with an ax, and I loved every minute of it. -- Billy Adams, Retired Chief Deputy Sheriff Latham Shinder earned an MBA at California State University and studied law at the University of Zimbabwe. While there, he traveled widely throughout southern Africa, where he began writing fiction. He lives and works near Dallas, Texas. The Graffiti Sculptor is his first novel.