Feint
of Art
An Art Lover's
Mystery
Hailey Lind
Signet (Paperback)
ISBN-10: 0-451-21699-7 (0451216997)
ISBN-13: 978-0-451-21677-1 (9780421216991)
Publication Date: January, 2006
List Price: $6.99
Synopsis (from
the publisher): At age ten, Annie Kincaid was declared a prodigy when
she painted a perfect Mona Lisa. A similar copy at seventeen made her a
crook. Lesson learned: Genuine art is priceless, and forgery gets you
arrested. Now Annie is putting her artistic talents to honest use as a
faux finisher in San Francisco. But her past may not be
painted over as well as she thought ...
Annie's got bad news for her ex-boyfriend, curator Ernst Pettigrew: The
snooty Brock Museum's new fifteen-million-dollar Caravaggio painting is
as fake as a three-dollar bill. Then, the same night Annie makes her
shattering appraisal, the janitor on duty in the museum is killed --
and Ernst disappears. To top it all off, a well-known art dealer has
absconded with multiple Old Master drawings, leaving forgeries in their
places. Finding the originals and pocketing the reward money will help
Annie get her landlord off her back. But a close encounter with a
fickle yet charming art thief could draw her into the underworld of
fakes and forgers she swore she'd left behind ...
Review:
Towards the end of Feint
of Art, the first in a new mystery series by Hailey Lind
featuring reformed art forger and current faux finisher Annie Kincaid,
Annie ponders the situation in which she finds herself and deems it
"overly complicated". The same can be said of Feint of Art. This is not
necessarily a negative criticism, but there is easily enough material
here for two books. So much happens in this mystery, what with a large
cast of characters having suspicious relationships and multiple pieces
of disappearing and reappearing artwork, it is virtually impossible to
keep track of it all.
And it probably doesn't much matter. Feint of Art is
like a roller coaster: the thrill is in the ride. Lots of twists and
turns and a blur of details along the way.
Each chapter is prefaced with a quote from Annie's grandfather's
unfinished and unpublished manuscript, Reflections of a World-Class
Forger. The quotes are informative, fascinating, and frequently quite
entertaining. It would be best if Lind keeps grandfather Georges at a
distance in future books where he remains worldly and mysterious. But
continue with the quotes; they are a treat in and of themselves.
Finally, no surprise here, the book concludes with a recipe for a faux
finish, Annie's Basic Old Master Glaze.
Though a bit overwritten in places, Feint of Art is a
fine debut to a mystery series that shows a lot of promise.
Special thanks to Hailey Lind for providing an ARC of Feint of Art for this review.
Review Copyright © 2006 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved.
Mysteries in this series ...
Feint of Art
Signet (Mass Market Paperback), 2006
ISBN-10: 0-451-21699-7 (0451216997)
ISBN-13: 978-0-451-21677-1 (9780421216991)
Shooting
Gallery
Signet (Mass Market Paperback), 2006
ISBN-10: 0-451-21973-2 (0451219732)
ISBN-13: 978-0-451-21973-2 (9780451219732)
Brush
With Death
Signet (Mass Market Paperback), 2007
ISBN-10: 0-451-22179-6 (0451221796)
ISBN-13: 978-0-451-22179-7 (9780451221797)
Omnimystery keywords for Feint of Art ...
Location(s) referenced: San Francisco.