Series that feature art dealers, artists, curators and other insiders are fun especially if you like the main character and enjoy following their development as well as the mystery. I particularly enjoyed John Malcolm's series featuring Tim Simpson, a financial consultant and art investment specialist. His titles are all puns or word play - Whistler in the Dark, Simpson's Homer, or references to the art work at the center of the story. Iain Pears, who has branched out into some non-series novels lately, had seven books featuring Jonathan Argyll, an English art dealer, and Flavia di Stefano of the Art Theft Squad in Rome, Italy (The Bernini Bust, The Immaculate Deception). 
Another interesting character is the dishonest art dealer, Charlie Mortdecai, who is the protagonist (I can't say hero in this instance really) of Kyril Bonfiglioli's quirky series (Don't Point That Thing At Me, and Something Nasty In The Woodshed). If you like antiques you might enjoy the Lovejoy series by Jonathan Gash. Lovejoy's antics can get annoying but the side lights on the antique business and the accompanying fakery is fascinating. (Vatican Rip, Gondola Scam and others).
Local writer Jane Langton has one book in her Homer Kelly series (he's a lawyer & former cop, set in Cambridge, MA) which is set at the Gardner - called, not surprisingly, Murder at the Gardner. And another local series set in Cambridge is by Kathryn Lasky Knight and features a children's book illustrator named Calista Jacobs (love the name!).Neville Steed wrote a series that featured an antique toy collector, Peter Marklin. These are a little hard to find but worth the chase. Susan Wittig Albert actually has a series with Beatrix Potter as the main character (full disclosure - I haven't read these as they seem a little "twee"). Carolyn Coker wrote a series featuring Andrea Perkins, a Boston-based art historian and restorer, which weren't bad (The Other David, The Balmoral Nude). Nicholas Kilmer's art historian, Fred Taylor is also based in and around Boston (Harmony in Flesh and Black). Aaron Elkins has two series, one co-written with Charlotte Elkins, with art themes. In one, Chris Norgren is a curator at a museum in Seattle, Washington (Deceptive Clarity, A Glancing Light). In the other the main character is Alix London, a "young art consultant whose father was a convicted art forger" is also based in Seattle.
Robert Ross has a series featuring Leonardo da Vinci as the detective, in which he is billed as the James Bond on the Renaissance - I haven't been able to read these yet (I may never!) but thought you should know about them. Da Vinci also appears in Diane A. S. Stuckart's book which feature a girl dressed as a boy apprenticed to the great man. (Surely he of all people would have noticed!) Claude Monet is the detective in two books by Jane Jakeman, In the Kingdom of Mists (set in London), and In the City of Dark Waters (set in Venice). And finally, Canaletto! Janet Laurence has written three books with Canaletto as the detective - you'll have to take my word for it - and they are set in 18th century London: Canaletto and the Case of the Westminster Bridge, Canaletto and the Case of the Privy Garden, and Canaletto and the Case of Bonnie Prince Charlie.
There are lots more, but I really should be grading your papers.NOTE:
An indispensable website for the true mystery-lover is Stop, You're Killing Me! which indexes by author and by main series character as well as by location, time period and jobs. If you are starting a series and want to read in order this is a great resource and links to Amazon for the books that are still in print and many that aren't.
No comments:
Post a Comment