Cezanne Chase

Even though it sometimes seems to have been badly translated from some other language, Swan's first thriller to be published in hardcover boasts some original characters and an involving story. A Cezanne self-portrait-one of 26 by this unusually vain artist-at London's National Gallery is destroyed by acid. Before Detective Inspector Jack Oxby of Scotland Yard's Arts and Antiques Squad can catch his breath, another Cezanne self-portrait, this one owned by an eccentric collector named Alan Pinkster, is ruined in the same way-and a curator is murdered. When a third Cezanne self-portrait at the Hermitage in St. Petersburg is reduced to jelly, the international art world realizes that something very nasty is going on. The reader discovers very early that the people doing the damage are two Norwegians-Peder Aukrust, a resourceful, twisted former pharmacist who carries a black bag full of poisons and potions for all occasions; and his enthralled lover, Astrid Harroldsen. But it takes Oxby and intrepid American collector Edwin Llewellyn (who has a Cezanne of his own) several hundred pages to identify the villains and discover why their art criticism has taken such a savage turn. Aukrust is particularly memorable, and the way he deals with the many obstacles in his path just might have readers rooting for him over the rather plodding Oxby. BOMC selection. (Mar.) FYI: Swan is the immediate past president of the New York chapter of the Mystery Writers of America.