Literary Compositions...

Works Of Art From The Canvas To The Page

One of the many delights of the reading life is finding an unexpected niche subgenre centered around a topic you didn’t realize you were fascinated by, until a remarkable book opened your eyes to undiscovered territory.

Fine arts fiction is one such category for me. Populated by provocative thrillers with plots that revolve around art and high drama, as well as in-depth character studies that delve into the genius of artists. The artistic perspective only deepens the appreciation of the stories these books set out to tell a reader.

I have curated for you a collection of books that illustrate in vivid detail magnetic artists and art, both loosely tied to real life events and wholly fabricated. Many of which are filled with intriguing mysteries, and all with unimaginable beauty.

Literary Artifice…

…fakes and forgeries, heists and homicides, these reads have it all

The Flanders Panel – Arturo Perez-Reverte

A fifteenth century painting by a Flemish master is about to be auctioned off when Julia, a young art restorer, discovers a peculiar inscription hidden in a corner: Who killed the knight? In the painting, the Duke of Flanders and his knight are locked in a game of chess, with a dark lady lurking mysteriously in background. Julia is determined to answer the question, but as she begins to look for clues, several of her friends in the art world are brutally murdered. Messages left with the bodies suggest a crucial connection between the chess game in the painting, the knight’s murder, the sordid secrets of the art world and the murders taking place now. All the players in this stellar novel seem to be pawns themselves, resulting in a tantalizing puzzle any connoisseur of art, chess or mystery will love!

Fake – Erica Katz

Emma is a fake. She’s a forger. But she isn’t a criminal; her copies are commissioned by museums and ultra-wealthy collectors protecting their investments. While Emma has mastered the masters, her work is sometimes a painful reminder of the artistic dreams she once chased for herself. When an oligarch collector appears with an unexpected invitation, Emma sees a way out. A new job, a new path for herself and access to the kind of money she needs to support her family. But it’s an invitation that comes with an obligation, one that she may not be prepared for. A glitzy, glamourous, and gripping art thriller!

The Art Forger – B.A. Shapiro

What would you do if one of the stolen paintings from the infamous 1990 Gardner Museum heist was dangled in front of you? Claire reproduces famous works of art, but she still longs to paint her own work. When a gallery owner asks her to forge one of the Degas masterpieces stolen from the Gardner in exchange for a show at his gallery, she agrees. Soon she is embroiled in a mystery spanning centuries when the real stolen Degas painting is delivered to her studio, and she suspects it too might be a forgery. She’ll have to outwit collectors and art thieves alike in a race to discover the truth.

Chasing Cezanne – Peter Mayle

Hanky panky and hijinks on the international art scene are a source of hilarity in this novel. The author takes us on a wild chase through galleries, mansions of prominent collectors and delectable French restaurants. Our hero, Andre, has been sent on assignment to take glamourous photographs of the treasures of the rich and famous. He happens to have his camera ready when he spots a Cezanne being loaded into a plumber’s truck. He takes it upon himself to embark on the trail of the master’s work, dogging all who would thwart his quest. So much fun!

The Last Mona Lisa – Jonathan Santlofer

This author is both a crime award winning writer and a celebrated artist, so no surprise he delivers an enthralling tale about the 1911 theft of the Mona Lisa from the Louvre, the forgeries that appeared in its wake, and the present-day underbelly of the art world. In August of 1911, the painting was stolen by Vincent Peruggia. Exactly what happened in the two years before its recovery is a mystery. Many replicas exist and many art historians have wondered if the painting returned is a fake. In present day, art professor Luke digs for the truth behind his infamous ancestor: Peruggia. Combining a historical heist and a present-day hunt for the truth, this is the perfect read! You will be transported by lush descriptions of glorious art and architecture.

Loot – Aaron Elkins

In April 1945, the Nazis, reeling and near defeat, frantically work to hide the huge store of art treasures that Hitler looted from Europe. Trucks loaded with the cultural wealth of the Western world pour in an unending stream into the compound of a vast salt mine high in the Austrian Alps. Amid all the confusion, a lone truck, it’s driver and its priceless load of masterpieces vanish into a mountain snowstorm. Half a century later, ex-curator Ben makes a stunning discovery among the piles of junk in a seedy Boston pawnshop, a painting from the legendary lost truck. With it comes decades of secrets and lies. And possibly a string of murders!

Girl With The Botticelli Eyes – Herbert Lieberman

Mike is an up-and-coming curator at the MOMA in New York City. With a Botticelli retrospective fast approaching he is poised to become the next director if he can secure three final drawings from Italy. Standing in his way is an Italian count with a fanatical devotion to his heritage and a deadly obsession with the Renaissance master’s work. Between them is Isobel, a direct descendant of Botticelli’s greatest muse. The count, in the grip of a desperate mania, kidnaps her to gain possession of the treasures. Culture and crime thrown together with a chilling result!

The Raphael Affair – Iain Pears

Flavia de Stefano is the kind of Italian beauty that art dealer Jonathon doesn’t normally get to meet in his line of work. Turns out all he had to do was get caught breaking into one of Rome’s churches and faceoff with the art theft officer tasked with interviewing him. His claim that the church contains a lost classic, hidden under another painting, is treated with cautious skepticism. But when the picture vanishes and turns up in the hands of an art dealer claiming it’s a newly discovered Raphael, Flavia must admit there is more to this than meets the eye.

The Night Gate – Peter May

In a sleepy French village, the body of a man shot through the head is dumped by the roots of a fallen tree. A week later a famous art critic is viciously murdered in a nearby house. These deaths occurred more than seventy years apart. Forensics expert Enzo finds himself embroiled in the investigation of the current day crime and soon reveals an unexpected link between the murders, the Mona Lisa. An unusual crime solver paired with an unusual crime makes for a great read.

Woman On Fire – Lisa Barr

Rising young journalist Jules has been given an unusual and highly secret assignment. Locate a painting stolen by the Nazi’s more than 75 years earlier, the famous Woman On Fire. Hired by the world-renowned shoe designer Ellis, Jules doesn’t have much time to get the job done before he succumbs to a terminal illness. Meanwhile in Europe, the powerful and rich Margaux is also on the hunt, and she is used to getting everything she wants. But she underestimates Jules’s determination, and her secret weapon. Laced with art, history, and sex, this read is riveting.

Con/Artist: Life & Crimes Of The World’s Greatest Art Forger – Tony Tetro

The art world is a much dirtier, nastier business than you might expect. Our author, one of the most renowned art forgers in history, will make you question every masterpiece you’ve ever seen in a museum, gallery, or private collection. It was recently revealed that King Charles received into his collection a Picasso, a Dali, a Monet, and a Chagall, insuring them for over 200 million pounds, only to discover that they were “Tetro’s”. And what is a buyer to do? Turn them in? Then they become nothing more than motel art, so maybe it’s better to pass them off as the real thing. Decades of secrets simmering beneath in the art world are revealed. A page turner!

Hot Art: Chasing Thieves & Detectives In The World Of Stolen Art – Josh Knelman

The Thomas Crown Affair meets the Devil In The White City in this fast paced, character driven story that breaks open the secrets of international art theft. Filled with cunning and eccentric characters: art thieves who threaten and then befriend our author, gallery owners who avoid him, FBI agents who barely tolerate him and art lawyers who embrace him in their ongoing fight to sound the alarm about the disturbing secrets of the black market for art. Not to be missed!

Narrative Renderings…

…vivid portraits, drawn through prose

The Swan Thieves – Elizabeth Kostova

Psychiatrist Andrew Marlow, devoted to his profession and his joy of painting, has a solitary but structured life. When renowned painter Robert Oliver attacks a canvas in the National Gallery and becomes his patient, Marlow finds that order destroyed. Desperate to understand the secret that torments the genius, he embarks on a journey that leads him to delve into the lives of the women closest to Oliver and a tragedy at the heart of Impressionism. A stunning work of art that the reader will embrace with all their senses.

The Violin Conspiracy – Brendan Slocumb

This thriller had me hooked from the start! Ray may be the most talented young musician in the world. Two weeks before the most important competition of his life, he opens his violin case after getting off a flight and discovers his $10 million dollar Stradivarius is gone, replaced by a white Chuck Taylor and a ransom note. The author then takes us back in time to show us how Ray, a young Black man from North Carolina who doesn't have the family wealth or privilege so many of his classical music peers do, fell in love with both music and his great-great grandfather's fiddle, devoting his life to playing. We also experience many painful and heart-pounding instances of the racism Ray experiences as a Black man moving through a space that's predominantly white, and how his Blackness is used against him by those who wish to claim his violin as their own.

Still Lives – Maria Hummel

Kim is an avant-garde figure, feminist icon, and provocateur in the L.A. art scene. Her grounding breaking exhibition Still Lives is comprised of self-portraits depicting herself as famous, murdered women. Twelve shocking and compelling paintings. Eleven famous murders. On the night of her opening, expected to attract the city’s richest art patrons, Kim never shows up. Now we have a missing artist and a woman driven to find her. Engaging characters and utterly unique plot will leave readers eager to swiftly turn those pages.

Attribution – Linda Moore

Art historian Cate, desperate to succeed in order to make her grieving parents proud, leaves the Midwest to complete her doctorate in New York, only to find herself assigned to an impossibly sexist advisor. She struggles to impress him until she discovers a hidden painting, one that could be a Baroque masterpiece. Risking everything, she flees to Spain with the painting to consult art experts. On her journey she meets Antonio, an impoverished duke, who joins her on the hunt for the truth. Will the art world be shocked by what they uncover? When art meets intrigue can there be a better combination?

The Gauguin Connection – Estelle Ryan

World renowned expert in nonverbal communication Doctor Genevieve Lenard investigates insurance claims, not murder. So, when her boss asks her to help his acerbic friend look into the death of a young artist, her autistic mind rebels against the change to her routine. What should be a straightforward investigation soon becomes a quagmire of money laundering, forged art and abuses of power. I LOVE a unique protagonist, and this book has that and so much more. A hidden gem!

Loving Frank – Nancy Horan

Mamah and her husband commission Frank Lloyd Wright to design a new home for them. During the construction of the house, a powerful attraction develops between her and the renowned architect. The two become lovers and embark on a path that will forever change their lives. Mamah struggles to justify her clandestine love affair, feeling disconnected from the life she is supposed to be living with her husband. A blend of fact and fiction that is both mesmerizing and beguiling.

The Cabinets Of Barnaby Mayne – Elsa Hart

In 1703 London, one elite community of collectors attempt to understand the world by collecting it’s wonders. Sir Barnaby, the most formidable of these, has devoted his life to filling his cabinets. Navigating the curious minded who vie for invitations to study the rarities with those that come with some darker purpose in mind. When a passion for unique artifacts brings Cecily to the Mayne house, she never expects to find her host stabbed to death and a supposed killer with a very unconvincing story to tell. A delightful whodunnit set in an utterly unique world!

The Flames – Sophie Haydock

Set in the extravagant, Bohemian art world of early 20th century Vienna, this is the electrifying untold story of the four women who posed for and inspired the groundbreaking erotic art of a controversial painter. Amid an opulent society living under the shadow of war are four muses, women whose bodies were shown in intimate detail. Adele, the painters passionate and fierce admirer; Gertrude, his possessive and jealous sister; Vally, his poor mistress; and Edith, who vie’s to become his wife. Over the course of a decade the women risk everything, even their sanity, to try and hold on to the man they adore. The real-life artists paintings are finally given a voice.

Fake Like Me – Barbara Bourland

Carey is the luminous artist darling at the center of a group of beautiful and passionate young artists who live, work, and love together at a colony in upstate New York. Shortly after our Narrator arrives, news of Carey’s death by suicide devastates the community. When the narrator’s studio, and all her paintings, burn down prior to a gallery exhibition, she heads back to the colony to work in Carey’s old studio as she desperately tries to recreate her paintings. As she works, unimaginable truths about Carey’s death and her artwork are slowly revealed.

The Blazing World – Siri Hustvedt

This is the story of the fictional artist Harriet Burden, told through a collection of posthumous documents including the artists diary and testimonies from her family, collaborators, and lovers. Frustrated by decades of having her work passed over in favour of male artists, Harry devises a plan to show her work under the guise of three different male artists who serve as her masks. Her plan to wrest recognition for herself soon spiral’s out of control and may in fact alienate the audience she has seduced into loving her work.

Museum Of Modern Love – Heather Rose

“The Artist Is Present” is a performance art piece that is enjoying a ten-week run at the Museum of Modern Art. The books main character, a music composer, is drawn back to the performance day after day. He sits among hundreds of others on the sidelines, watching the artist sit completely still for hours, confronting one visitor at a time, silently staring into each person’s eyes as they sit in a chair across from hers. Based on a real-life exhibition, this original novel explores the magnetic pull of the artist over the art.