Some of the crazy/nicest aspects of this series are the titles-which usually have a name of a painting in the title-and the cover art-always interesting. In a sense this is a quirky series set in the Boston area,although in this book Fred goes to New Bedford, my old home town, to see an art restorer. Kilmer is a Cambridge resident so he knows the area well.

  Fred  wanders into the shop of an old friend and antique dealer, Oona, an Hungarian immigrant. Fred and Clay are still trying to decide how to approach the painting they acquired in the last book to see if there really is a Vemeer under the haystack painting. However, Oona has a painting-actually a piece of a painting- which intrigues Fred. It is a painting of a common gray squirrel on a chain, It is obvious that it had been cut from a larger painting. With his expertise Fred buys it and takes it to Clay. Both think it may be a lost Copley. They decide they must get the rest of it and restore it.

  Molly Riley, Fred's significant other, has been recruited by her sister, Ophelia, a media executive, to investigate Dr. Eunice Cover-Hoover, whose specialty is deprogramming former members of satanic cults-or so she makes her "patients". Somehow (and I though Kilmer skillfully welds the two storylines) the painting is connected to this strange therapy but when people start dying Fred investigates to find the connections. Again Kilmer adds the family element throughout the story and we see Fred, Molly and her kids continue to try to make a happy family unit.

  I rate this one a high 7 or low 8.  Kilmer writes a good story-modern and compact. These novels are a little over  250 pages just long enough to keep a fast pace and a lean plot. His characters -although not all that deep-are interesting but I can understand why some readers want more.