Art of Survival

This is the fifth in the series by A. E. (for Ann and Evan) Maxwell, the husband-and-wife team whose Just Enough Light to Kill was enthusiastically received in 1988. In this saga, hard-nosed, worldly private eye Fiddler breaks again with his wife Fiora and leaves their California home for Santa Fe, art capital of the Southwest. At the Olin Nickelaw Gallery, Fiddler meets artist Maggie Tenorio and the gallery owner, whom the detective distrusts instinctively. Nickelaw, having paid a million dollars for a recently discovered painting by Georgia O'Keeffe, puts on a gaudy presentation, drawing a monied crowd and some sharp operators. Suspecting Maggie and Olin of fraud, Fiddler goes after proof, thereby endangering the life of his beloved Fiora as well as his own. The story is unnerving, mesmerizing and, when relief from fierce tensions is required, blessedly funny. (June)