An interesting but very complex first novel by a young writer who holds degrees in art history and who, also, chairs an organization that studies art crimes.
The disappearance of a major work of Caravaggio from a church in Rome, the discovery, in Paris, that a valuable painting by a Russian who specializes in "White-on-White" art is missing and a theft, in London, of an Art Museum’s most recent acquisition only hours after they had paid over six million pounds for it at an auction, are almost simultaneous and as it turns out are all connected.
The various police organizations that specialize in art theft and art experts from each country begin their investigation into what becomes a mystery, a puzzle, and a conspiracy. The removal of the paintings had been planned very carefully, ingenious, actually. Forgeries, substitution, overpainting, deception and surprising complicities are revealed as the "art detectives" and the police go about their business. The author has created some fascinating characters, whose personal and professional lives add depth and knowledge to the overall investigation.
Learn about art, listen as our "art experts" lecture and discuss various works of art in the art museum and over some long and provocative lunches in Paris and London restaurants and watch them solve some interesting puzzles. This is probably the best part of the novel although, Mr Charney tends to use his didactic abilities a little too much.
The disappearance of a major work of Caravaggio from a church in Rome, the discovery, in Paris, that a valuable painting by a Russian who specializes in "White-on-White" art is missing and a theft, in London, of an Art Museum’s most recent acquisition only hours after they had paid over six million pounds for it at an auction, are almost simultaneous and as it turns out are all connected.
The various police organizations that specialize in art theft and art experts from each country begin their investigation into what becomes a mystery, a puzzle, and a conspiracy. The removal of the paintings had been planned very carefully, ingenious, actually. Forgeries, substitution, overpainting, deception and surprising complicities are revealed as the "art detectives" and the police go about their business. The author has created some fascinating characters, whose personal and professional lives add depth and knowledge to the overall investigation.
Learn about art, listen as our "art experts" lecture and discuss various works of art in the art museum and over some long and provocative lunches in Paris and London restaurants and watch them solve some interesting puzzles. This is probably the best part of the novel although, Mr Charney tends to use his didactic abilities a little too much.
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