A notorious French art dealer is murdered in this "thoroughly
entertaining" mystery by the Edgar Award-winning author of the Gideon
Oliver series (Kirkus Reviews).
It is a headline-making story: the discovery of a previously unknown
Rembrandt. René Vachey, the iconoclastic art dealer who claims to have
uncovered it, wants to make a gift of it to the Seattle Art Museum, but
curator Chris Norgren is wary. Vachey is notorious in art circles for
perpetrating scandalous shams; not for profit but for the sheer fun of
embarrassing the elite and snobbish "experts" of the art establishment.
And thanks to the web of strings attached to Vachey's donation (e.g., no
scientific testing permitted), even Rembrandt expert Chris is uncertain
as to whether or not the painting is authentic.
His doubts multiply when he goes to Dijon to examine it and finds
himself in the middle of a host of controversies of which Vachey is the
devilish focus. But there is no doubt that the bullet soon found in
Vachey's head is authentic. And there is no telling how much time Chris
has to find the truth about the "masterpiece"--and the murder--before he
finds himself painted into a corner by a shrewd and villainous murderer.
1993 Nero Award, given by the Nero Wolfe Society/the Wolfe Pack for
literary excellence in the mystery genre.
