cover image Fatal Impressions

Fatal Impressions

Wayne Warga. Arbor House Publishing, $16.95 (223pp) ISBN 978-0-87795-990-8

Art forgery, murder, international intrigue . . . they're here, but fail to provide thrills. Rachel Sabin runs an art gallery in Los Angeles and lives with Jeffrey Dean, a dealer in rare books. They acquire a rare early print by Frank Stella, unaware that forged Stellas are being substituted for real ones, in galleries across the U.S., by a psychopathic killer. Rachel buys her Stella from Karl Diedrich, a German dealer, and gives it, as an extended and sentimental loan, to her friend and advisor Henry Thurmond, who is murdered soon after. An expert declares that the print is a forgery. The detective assigned to the case, Eddie Alvarez, has a friend in the CIA who informs him that Diedrich is identified in their files as a spy. Assuming that Diedrich is the killer, Rachel and Jeff go to Berlin to track him down. Warga's ( Hardcover ) stilted prose further impedes a narrative that starts off with a bang and ends with a formula, giving readers intermittent entertainment in between. Troll Book Club alternate. (Jan.)