Deceptive Clarity [Mass Market Paperback]

Aaron Elkins (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 4, 1993

Curator Chris Norgren heads to Berlin to help mount a sensational exhibit of priceless works once thought to be lost. But the occasion turns chilling when Chris's boss, after sensing a forgery in the lot, turns up dead the next day outside a Frankfort brothel. Now Chris faces two near-impossible tasks--finding a fake painting amng the masterpieces, and a REAL killer still at large....
"Elkins thoroughly understands the art of the murder mystery."
THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

Curator Chris Norgren heads to Berlin to help mount a sensational exhibit of priceless works once thought to be lost. But the occasion turns chilling when Chris's boss, after sensing a forgery in the lot, turns up dead the next day outside a Frankfort brothel. Now Chris faces two near-impossible tasks--finding a fake painting amng the masterpieces, and a REAL killer still at large....
"Elkins thoroughly understands the art of the murder mystery."
THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 251 pages
• Publisher: Fawcett; 1st Ballantine Books Ed edition (December 4, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0449149005
• ISBN-13: 978-0449149003
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 3.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,284,575 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I'm a former anthropologist who has been writing mysteries and thrillers since 1982, having won an Edgar for Old Bones, as well as a subsequent Agatha (with my wife Charlotte), and a Nero Wolfe Award. My major continuing series features forensic anthropologist-detective Gideon Oliver, "the Skeleton Detective."

Lately, I've seen myself referred to as "the father of the modern forensic mystery," and, by gosh, I think I am! Before "Fellowship of Fear," the first Gideon Oliver, published in 1982, you'd have to go back 70 years and more to Austin Freeman and his Dr. Thorndyke series. Between the two good doctors (Thorndyke and Oliver), there was only Jack Klugman's "Quincy," so far as I know, and he was a TV character.

The Gideon Oliver books have been (roughly) translated into a major ABC-TV series and have been selections of the Book-of-the-Month Club, the Literary Guild, and the Readers Digest Condensed Mystery Series. My work has been published in a dozen languages. Charlotte and I live on Washington's Olympic Peninsula, our marriage having survived (more or less intact) our collaboration on novels and short stories.

Although I've been a full-time writer for some time now, I also remain active in real-life forensics by serving as the forensic anthropologist on the Olympic Peninsula Cold Case Task Force.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Fun Mystery Writing, June 30, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Deceptive Clarity (Mass Market Paperback)

I stumbled on Aaron Elkins awhile ago, and I promptly went out and bought all of his Gideon Oliver books. When Gideon was finished, I started his Chris N. books - and feel even deeper in love. Elkins truly knows how to write about art, and if you love art and art history the way I do, you'll abosultely love his book dealing with art fraud and the like. Few people can actually deal with mysteries surrounding art, because they skim the details or make reference to braodly popular pieces and artists which they know offhand. Not so with Elkins - he knows both the obscure and the popular, and he writes about art like someone who loves it and understands it. And...about the mystery? You'll like Chris as a character, and like all of Elkins mysteries, this one has plenty of plot twists and turns, and it keeps you guessing about who the culprit could be. That's a plus for any mystery, in my book.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Art history fun and murder!, December 12, 2006

By 

Maryland Reader "marylandreadr" (MD) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Deceptive Clarity (Mass Market Paperback)

For those of you who like Aaron Elkins' Gideon Oliver series, I urge you to try the Chris Norgren series.

Chris Norgren is an art historian/curator with an expertise in Old Masters. Someone is sponsoring a show of Old Masters that have been located after having been plundered by the Nazis. A colleague who was curating the show asks Chris to come to Germany as he thinks there is a fake within the collection. Unfortunately, he is killed in suspicious circumstances before he can reveal his thoughts. Chris must put the puzzle pieces together before the show can go on.

There are three books in the Chris Norgren series. All are enteraining, fun, art history romps. I wrote Aaron Elkins once and asked why he didn't continue the series. He says he would love to, but the publishers don't perceive it as being as marketable as the Gideon Oliver series. Until they relent, find this series as used books and in libraries and enjoy!

11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Good Story by a good storyteller, August 7, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Deceptive Clarity (Mass Market Paperback)

I love all the Chris Norgren books that Aaron Elkins has written. Pick up this book and I am sure you will agree with me that it is well worth your time. There are 3 books in this series and I wish Mr. Elkins would continue the series.