Death of an Old Master: A Murder Mystery Featuring Lord Francis Powerscourt [Hardcover]

David Dickinson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 17, 2004

In Death of an Old Master, it is Titian and a host of other Renaissance painters that command the attention of author David Dickinson and his discreet society investigator Lord Powerscourt. The celebrated 1899 exhibition of Venetian paintings has just opened in London when a leading art critic, Christopher Montague, is found murdered—garroted, to be precise—in his study. Powerscourt turns up a motive soon enough. For Montague would surely have closed the exhibition and rocked the London art world to its foundations, if he had published his article alleging that the work of the Old Masters on display (and on sale for fortunes in American dollars) were in fact brilliantly, and recently, executed forgeries. In search of his suspect, Powerscourt traverses a treacherous world of art dealers and picture restorers in London and on the continent before arriving in sun-baked, sinister Corsica. There perils mount, but Powerscourt has barely begun to scrape the paint off the murderous secrets hidden in the canvases of the Old Masters.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Ah, those gullible new American millionaires of the late 19th century. After first enriching themselves through railroad development, the shipping trade, or other robber-baron enterprises, many sought to manifest their sophistication by purchasing great European works of art. "I suspect we may be at the very beginning of the biggest buying spree in history," remarks one cultural connoisseur in David Dickinson's Death of an Old Master. "For the dealers, the opportunities are huge." And there were still greater profits to be made by purveyors of counterfeit masterpieces, as is made clear in this smartly plotted third mystery (after Goodnight, Sweet Prince and Death and the Jubilee) featuring Lord Francis Powerscourt, a former army intelligence officer who’s now "one of the foremost investigators in Britain."

Powerscourt's interest in the 1899 slaying of leading art critic Christopher Montague--garroted in his London flat with a piano wire--is simple enough: the dead man was one of his wife Lucy's myriad relatives. But this is no simple homicide. For one thing, all of Montague's papers have disappeared. These include an article he was writing about forged or faked Renaissance paintings--some of which are hanging at the prestigious de Courcy and Piper Gallery. It's a neat little business that partners William Alaric Piper and Edmund de Courcy have been running: With the help of a talented--and captive--young artist named Orlando Blane, they duplicate existing Old Masters, or create new ones in identical style, for sale to foreigners. So was Montague killed to prevent his revealing this epidemic fraudulence? Or was the critic's demise the tragic outcome of his affair with a married woman, whose husband is now missing? Following the garroting of Montague's closest friend, and with a likely innocent man awaiting trial for these murders, Dickinson's aristocratic sleuth begins a chase after answers that will lead him from the Mediterranean island of Corsica to London's hallowed National Gallery and a disheveled dynastic mansion on the Norfolk seacoast.

Dickinson, a former BBC-TV editor, stuffs Death of an Old Master with knowledge about the Victorian art world, yet avoids didactic stuffiness. His focus here is instead on wit, rompish adventure, and a cast memorable for its quirky diversity. Although readers may be hard-pressed to identify the killer in advance, the courtroom resolution to Dickinson's mystery boasts something that's lacking from most of the artistic efforts in this tale: genuineness. --J. Kingston Pierce

From Publishers Weekly

In Dickinson's third well-paced Victorian mystery (after 2003's Death and the Jubilee), devoted family man Lord Francis Powerscourt investigates the murder of a distant relative, art historian Christopher Montague, found garroted in his London flat. Suspects abound, from both the victim's personal and professional life. Powerscourt soon learns that Montague was having an affair with the wife of an older man who vanishes right after the body's discovery. The murderer's theft of all the scholar's papers suggests that their rumored contents, which would disclose a sophisticated and extensive forged-art ring, motivated the killer. The aristocrat is his usual quick study as he infiltrates the world of the dealers peddling the work of the Old Masters, and he uses his network of sources, including his wife, to find proof of the frauds targeting American nouveaux riches. After a second murder by strangulation, the noose appears to tighten around the cuckold, whose trial in classic Perry Mason fashion becomes the vehicle for the disclosure of the truth with a plausible fair-play solution that will satisfy traditional mystery fans. Dickinson nicely blends action and dogged sleuthing, and his husband-wife pair of detectives is both more personable and believable than similar Victorian duos created by Anne Perry and Robin Paige. This neatly plotted effort should gain him wider notice and the larger readership he deserves.
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Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Carroll & Graf (February 17, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786713062
• ISBN-13: 978-0786713066
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.7 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,770,601 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Witty, Intriguing, Highly Readable, April 3, 2005

By 

Hilary Miller (KY USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Death of an Old Master: A Murder Mystery Featuring Lord Francis Powerscourt (Hardcover)

This is the third installment in the Lord Powerscourt series, which I've been reading in order, and it's definitely my favourite so far. I don't know how accurately the art market of the 1890s is portrayed, but Dickinson describes it wittily and seemingly knowledgably. I found myself becoming just as interested in how the conniving gallery owner was able to jack up prices and foist his forgeries on unsuspecting and gullible American millionaires as I was in discovering the murderer of the art historian who was about to expose these schemes. The courtroom drama at the end of the book was also dramatic, with witty observations and asides that made it most entertaining. Finally, in addition to the fascinating historical touches and the intriguing sub-plots (in particular, the pathetic story of the young forgerer who loses the woman he loves and is forced to produce his masterful forgeries against his will), this is a good mystery story. There are plenty of suspects with means and motive, and my guess is that most readers will be wondering "whodunit" for about as long as I did (figured it out a few chapters ahead of the revelation).

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very nice historical mystery, July 6, 2004

By 

booksforabuck "BooksForABuck" (Long Beach, CA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Death of an Old Master: A Murder Mystery Featuring Lord Francis Powerscourt (Hardcover)

Victoria still reigns, the Boors are making ugly war on the British Empire in southern Africa, and American millionaires are flocking to Europe to pick up culture--including the old masters. One enterprising art dealer specializes in serving the needs of the Americans--whether this means locating great art, or creating it on demand. It's all very civilized in a way, and even similar to the way that many British manors were stuffed with ersatz 'old masters' from centuries of trips to the continent. But the murder of an art critic throws the entire business into turmoil.

Investigator Lord Francis Powerscourt interveins when his wife reminds him that the victim is something of a cousin (Powerscourt believes that half of English society is a cousin of some sort to his wife). The case looks clearcut--the dead man had been having an affair with a married woman whose husband had recently learned of the affair and was not happy about it. But Powerscourt doesn't trust any case that looks too obvious and he finds other motives--motives involving money and great art.

Author David Dickinson writes convincingly of English 'society' near the end of the 19th century. British nobles are finding their ancestral homes to be expensive monstrosities that they still must maintain, manners remain critical, and a woman can be ruined by scandal--but both men and women still seek out adventure in their lives. Powerscourt is a well developed and sympathetic character--often lost in the case but never too busy to make time for his wife (and occasional co-investigator) and children. Dickinson doesn't look beneath the upper crust of English society, but even that upper crust is pretty rotten.

Dickinson throws out a number of red herings, sends Powerscourt through England and even to Corsica, and gives the reader enough interest in art and art forgery to make for a fascinating read.

5.0 out of 5 stars Great storytelling, June 16, 2004

By 

Valerie Adolph "Coast Journal" (Pacific Northwest) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Death of an Old Master: A Murder Mystery Featuring Lord Francis Powerscourt (Hardcover)

This book is set in London in 1899. A leading art critic has been murdered. Now I hesitate to read books about the art world because either the writer talks down to the reader, or a non-art historian hasn't a clue what it's all about. This writer manages to explain the art world quickly, simply and effectively. I understood and I didn't feel patronized.

This is a good story; it moves right along with plenty of action. The characters are so well drawn that you don't even notice the writer doing it. The background is authentic and the various motivations very true to the time, the setting and the plot. The dialogue was crisp and the transitions barely noticeable.

This is John Buchan meeting Anne Perry, with the addition of a sense of humor. I really enjoyed it.