Place of Safety [Hardcover]

Natasha Cooper (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 7, 2003

The exciting new novel in the Trish Magiure series - can Trish find out what goes on in the murky depths of the art world and save her family at the same time? Trish Maguire is blessed with a slug of unexpected free time when a big case settles before it gets to court. She plans to spend it with her family. Sir Henry Buxford, an influential acquaintance, has other ideas. He asks her to investigate one of his private charities, a magnificent art collection built up before 1914 and lost for most of the twentieth century. The work is right outside Trish's usual field, and she needs all the time she can get to help her 9-year-old half-brother adjust to life after his mother's murder. Only Buxford's passionate desire to protect the vulnerable people involved in the Gregory Bequest Collection persuades her to take on the job. Giving herself a crash course in the murkier end of the art market and learning more than she can bear about the suffering in the trenches during the First World War, Trish soon finds herself sharing all his concern. As the small job grows to monster proportions, invading her professional and private lives, it brings about a death she knows she will never forget.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

London solicitor Trish Maguire has her hands full overseeing more than her share of legal cases, managing her relationship with male friend George, and dealing with the emotional demands of her young half-brother David after the murder of his mother. Then her boss commands her to do a "small favor" for Sir Henry Buxton. The favor consists of finding out how and why Toby Fullwell, curator of the respected Gregoire art collection, of which Sir Henry is a trustee, has recently sold a Pieter de Hooch painting for 5,000,000, well over its true value. Trish reluctantly agrees to take on the case, little realizing that her investigation will take her deep into a world of art forgery and blackmail, reveal a decades-old love story that is as moving as it is implausible, place her and her half-brother in danger, and topple the Gregoire collection and its curator into chaos. Cooper creates a dark and savage story with a deviously clever plot, convincing and complex characters, and a shocking climax. The best yet in a too-little-known series. Emily Melton
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

Natasha Cooper's doughty heroine Trish Maguire is back, and readers are in for a highly entertaining time. Cooper creates another gritty, authentic London setting while concurrently portraying the horrors of the First World War. Trish Maguire plans to spend some free time with her family, but Sir Henry Buxford, an influential acquaintance, asks her to investigate one of his private charities, a magnificent art collection built up before 1914 and lost for most of the 20th century. Giving herself a crash course in the murkier end of the art market, and learning more than she can bear about the suffering in the trenches during the First World War, Trish soon finds the job invading her professional and private lives. Cooper is one of the most reliable practitioners of the genre at work today, and this is splendid stuff.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster (July 7, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743231074
• ISBN-13: 978-0743231077
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,139,174 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Frustrated !, January 16, 2004

By 

Beverley Strong (Australia) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Place of Safety: A Trish Maguire Mystery (Hardcover)

I'm not able to judge this book fairly as I got only 1/3 of the way through. M/s Cooper assumes that everyone has read the preceeding book and is therefore aware of all the characters and their names. Unlike other authors who write each book as a separate entity, she alludes to people, names and situations which one would have to had read to know what she is on about.I gave up after battling for some time as ones reading life is too short !

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Is it Art or is it Memorex?, December 11, 2003

By 

Vesta Irene (the Pacific Northwest) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Place of Safety: A Trish Maguire Mystery (Hardcover)

Barrister Trish Maguire's Head Of Chambers asks her to do a favor for old friend Sir Henry Buxford. Buxford wants her to look into the worrying behavior of Toby Fullwell, the curator of a small art gallery. The gallery houses the art collection assembled before the First World War by Jean-Pierre Gregoire. She is reluctant because she needs all the time she can get to help her nine-year-old half-brother adjust to life after his mother's murder. Only Buxford's desire to protect the vulnerable people involved in the Gregory Bequest Collection convinces her to take on the task. She gives herself a crash course in the seemier end of the art market and she soon finds herself sharing his concern.

Intermingled with the present day story are scenes from the First World War, where we see the terror of the war in France through the eyes of a young nurse and art colletor Gregoire, her French lover. When he fails to return for her, she keeps his collection safe till her death, entrusting his paintings to her son, who sets up the gallery with Fulwell as curator.

What Trish doesn't know and has to find out is that Fullwell is being blackmailed. He and a friend successfully faked some Jean Clouet drawings back in the Eighties and made a lot of money. The blackmailer knows it as is using this information, and threats to his family, to persuade Fulwell to help him in a money-laundering-fake paintings scam. Pressures on Fullwell build and violence is never far away. Is he laundering the gallery's money? Are the paintings genuine or fake? What is driving him to a state where he might commit murder? And what about that dead body that is found in the river Thames?

The First World War scenes are painted true to life and the characters are as real as any I've ever read. The relationship between Trish and her psychologically damaged half-brother, is especially well drawn. And there are enough twists and turns in this five star mystery to keep the reader guessing throughout the night.

Reviewed by Vesta Irene

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Although part of a series, still stands alone successfully, June 26, 2005

By 

Eclectician (Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Place of Safety: A Trish Maguire Mystery (Hardcover)

I cannot agree with the reviewer who was frustrated by the presence of threads from earlier books in the series. I had read and loved an earlier one, not the one immediately preceding "A place of safety", and once I realised that I remembered that the author was one I'd vowed to follow. I was grateful for this chance find on the library shelves, and second chance to read more about 'Trish McGuire', because I regard Natasha Cooper as a very skillful drawer of characters, and as someone who has insights into human beings I've found enriching, as well as a great storyteller.

Yes, I'll go back and re-read the earlier one, as well as tracking down intervening titles, but I urge anyone who gets the chance to grab this one - it's capable of standing alone, head and shoulders above many other mysteries.