From Publishers Weekly
As fiction, this fourth book in a series featuring American art historian Andrea Perkins (after The Hand of the Lion ) is a light but interesting read; as a mystery, it lacks suspense: Andrea is just another character caught up in the sometimes predictable circumstances surrounding an art theft and a murder, not a sleuth who discovers important clues. Background to the plot is the 1864 murder of a London prostitute by Cecil Thomas Fetherston, artist, gallery owner and tutor to Queen Victoria. In the present, Andrea's ex-lover Clayton Foley contacts her to authenticate a set of newly discovered drawings by Fetherston, who happens to be a direct ancestor of Foley's wife, Deborah. The sketch Foley gives Andrea is later stolen from her office. Deborah invites Andrea to the family estate for a weekend of work on the sketches and a meeting with would-be purchasers; a thief breaks in, making off with the Balmoral Nude and seriously injuring Deborah. Switches in point of view generate some tension, though some hints as to who's responsible aren't successful and the de rigueur weekend gathering of suspects at the scene of the crime lacks originality. Andrea discovers at the same time as the reader the true inspiration for and creator of the Balmoral Nude.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Clayton Foley and wealthy wife Deborah hire art authenticator and series heroine Andrea Perkins to restore some Victorian sketches handed down in Deborah's family. The rather ordinary sketches relate to a crime of passion involving Gladstone, a prostitute, and Deborah's ancestor. The action escalates from theft in London to attempted murder at a country manor house before any idea of the real culprit arises. Attention focuses on Andrea, but she does not undertake an investigator's role; in fact, events might work better if she did. This is serviceably written, though it has some too-obvious delaying tactics and a weak ending.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.
