A Masterpiece of Revenge

Setting his latest mystery (after Death by Publication) in the art world, which he explores with an intensity worthy of Dorothy Sayers, Fiechter carefully builds an ingeniously diabolical plot. When a new work by 17th-century French landscape painter Claude Lorrain is found, it's only a matter of time before Lorrain expert Charles Vermeille is going to be asked to authenticate it. Meanwhile, Vermeille, a civilized man who loves art and his son in equal measure, begins receiving anonymous and unlabeled photographs of his son, now a student far from Paris, in California. Is Vermeille being threatened by someone in the art world. A rival, perhaps? Or a scholar whose conclusions he has mocked? Can the photos have something to do with the recently discovered Lorrain, subtly pressuring him to give it the stamp of approval? From first page to last, Fiechter draws readers into a world of intrigue, money, love and beauty. At times, his writing falters, and Vermeille is the only truly vivid character. But Fiechter's inventive plot carries the day, making the novel, if no masterpiece, certainly a work to admire. (Oct.)