Caravaggio's Angel
A Reggie
Lee Mystery
Ruth
Brandon
Soho Constable (Hardcover)
ISBN-10: 1-56947-519-9 (1569475199)
ISBN-13: 978-1-56947-519-5 (9781569475195)
Publication Date: October 2008
List Price: $25.00
Synopsis (from
the publisher): Dr. Reggie Lee, a new arrival at the National Gallery,
is organizing a small exhibition around three Caravaggio paintings
depicting "St. Cecilia and the Angel". One is at the Getty, one at the
Louvre, and she assumes it won't be too hard to track down the third.
But inexplicable obstacles keep getting in her way -- and then,
unexpectedly, a fourth Caravaggio turns up. One of them must be a fake.
But which?
When people start to die, it's horribly clear that someone doesn't want
Reggie's show to go ahead. Why, she can't imagine. But her career is at
stake, and she's damned if she'll let herself be intimidated by these
unseen forces. So Reggie sets out to discover the truth, on a trail
that leads her from Surrealist suicides to Italian art dealers, from
17th-century painting techniques to modern French politics. By the end
it seems as though nobody in the world of international art can truly
be deemed incorruptible -- perhaps not even Reggie herself.
Review: Ruth
Brandon introduces art curator and historian Dr. Reggie Lee in Caravaggio's Angel, a tale of
mystery and intrigue set in the world of international art.
Reggie is a relatively new member of the staff of the National Gallery
in London. She is given the assignment to set up a small exhibition
enveloping three paintings by the 1600's Italian master Caravaggio
collectively titled “St. Cecelia and the Angel.” It would
really be a feather in her cap if she were able to pull it off. One of
the paintings is on display the Getty Museum in California. Another is
in the Louvre in Paris. The third is in the possession of a private
party, an elderly lady in France, Mme. Juliette Rigaut. Reggie goes to
visit Mme. Rigaut’s son, Jean-Jacques, an Interior Minister but
having grand aspirations of becoming President of France one day,
initially agrees but abruptly changes his mind saying he is part owner
of the painting and refusing to allow it to be loaned. Not only that,
he forces the Louvre to reverse its decision to agree to loan their
Caravaggio. But now the situation is even more complicated: her quest
to bring together the three paintings reveals a fourth "Angel". Could
this truly be the find of a lifetime or more likely a forgery? Or is it
genuine and one of the existing three paintings is in reality a fake?
Soon people involved with her assignment begin to die, accidents
possibly, murder almost certainly. Will she be able to determine the
truth before she becomes a casualty?
Caravaggio's Angel is a
wonderful introduction for this amateur sleuth. The story draws the
reader into the complex, secretive world of art treasures and Reggie is
quite endearing. The plot is sufficiently intricate to capture the
imagination without being overly convoluted. A minor annoyance, typical
of many international mysteries, is the inclusion of words or phrases
in the local language. Here, for example, whole sentences are in French
and it is difficult, if not impossible, from the context to determine
what exactly is being said. There are far better, and more effective,
ways of introducing an international flavor to a book. It's
pretentious, it unnecessarily interrupts the flow of the narrative,
leaves the reader ignorant of something potentially important, and
makes the book slightly less enjoyable than it otherwise might have
been.
Special thanks to guest reviewer Betty of The Betz Review for contributing her review of Caravaggio's Angel and to Soho Press for providing a copy of the book for this review.
Review Copyright © 2009 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved
Have you read Caravaggio's Angel? How would you rate it?
Mysteries in this series …
Caravaggio's Angel
Soho Constable (Hardcover), October 2008
ISBN-10: 1-56947-519-9 (1569475199)
ISBN-13: 978-1-56947-519-5 (9781569475195)
Omnimystery keywords for Caravaggio's Angel ...
Location(s) referenced: London, Paris.
