This is the first book in a series written by Nicholas Kilmer about a Boston art dealer, Fred Taylor. Fred is no Max Bittersohn. He went to Harvard-briefly. Fred also has Vietnam flashbacks and when needed packs a gun. These cases are grittier than anything MacLeod would write. Taylor works only for one art collector ,Clayton Reed, a well-to-do Beacon Hill collector. Basically Fred researches possible purchases and fights for them at auction.
Fred has a private life. He more or less lives with Molly Riley, an independent-minded Cambridge librarian and her two children, Sam and Terry. In this novel there are two paintings involved. The first Clayton bought from a pornographer-a study of a nude in the title. Unbeknowst to the them, Henry Smykal,was double dealing-one of his customers was not happy and ends up hammered to death. The other is an unexciting nineteenth centry landscape which Reed suspects has a Vermeer worth millions lying underneath. Reed and Taylor spend most of their time dodging the police ( neither of them reported the crime),, other art dealers and the unhappy customers of Smykal.
I found the book easy to read. It is a fast read because the characters are interesting people. It is not really an exceptional book so I rate it a low 7.
Fred has a private life. He more or less lives with Molly Riley, an independent-minded Cambridge librarian and her two children, Sam and Terry. In this novel there are two paintings involved. The first Clayton bought from a pornographer-a study of a nude in the title. Unbeknowst to the them, Henry Smykal,was double dealing-one of his customers was not happy and ends up hammered to death. The other is an unexciting nineteenth centry landscape which Reed suspects has a Vermeer worth millions lying underneath. Reed and Taylor spend most of their time dodging the police ( neither of them reported the crime),, other art dealers and the unhappy customers of Smykal.
I found the book easy to read. It is a fast read because the characters are interesting people. It is not really an exceptional book so I rate it a low 7.







