Okay, I admit it..... I borrowed required reading book from my son for a night! He needed to read it for an Art History class and the jacket and description were too attractive for a borderline book thief like me. Well, worth the risk of annoyance... I found a fast-paced, thriller set in the international art world with great characters, most especially, Amos Hatcher. The other generation found it a good read as well!!
Justice for Maude! 馃榿 engaging read, interesting plot. It was odd to have a character you knew get killed off like that, but a nice change to watch the principals work out what you already knew. Also strange to not have the third murder ever solved.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
I enjoyed this novel more than I expected. It's a thriller more than a mystery -- in that the reader knows "who dun it" throughout, and simply watches the protagonists arrive at their conclusion. The characters, however, would fit in perfectly in a mystery of the Dick Francis or Agatha Christie caliber, so it is an enjoyable read for someone who likes series mystery fiction. Interestingly, I think where this book exceeded my expectations was in its intellectual content. I adore novels with a "rediscovery or loss of great masterpiece" plot and have read many (think , , ). This one wore its learning lightly, made no offensive errors, and didn't try too hard. On the other hand, the book has some drawbacks. It is, admittedly, surprising to have the primary focalizer killed off after you get to know him a bit; but it would have been more surprising if the book jacket hadn't mentioned it. The new protagonist who is introduced after that takes a while to get fleshed out. There are three murders, and no attempt is made to integrate the third one into the plot -- the investigators never even notice it happened. But overall it is a lot more readable than I find Dick Francis novels these days.