April 25, 2011
British author Connor (Rembrandt's Monkey: And Other Tales from the Secret Lives of the Great Artists) fails to make the best use of an interesting premiseâthat some of the important works attributed to Rembrandt were actually painted by a bastard sonâin this loosely plotted, often digressive international thriller. The police dismiss the torture murder of London gallery owner Owen Zeigler as a robbery gone bad, but when Owen's son, Marshall, learns that his father had letters written by Rembrandt's former lover, Geertje Dircx, that prove the deception, the motive for the killing becomes clear and those who knew of the letters become suspects or potential targets. Previous and subsequent murders provide links that increase Marshall's fears as well as his determination to find his father's killer among the dealers, collectors, and their ilk who would kill to possess or destroy the letters. Excerpts from Dircx's letters lend poignancy, but the path to the murder's solution otherwise plods.