Fans of Kilmer's quirky art mysteries will welcome the delightfully inventive sixth entry in this underappreciated series (Harmony in Flesh and Black
, etc.), a prequel that explains how art critic Fred Taylor and wealthy, reclusive Boston collector Clayton Reed met. Franklin Tilley, a young man in possession of an eclectic art collection of uncertain provenance and ownership, sets up Reed for a scam or worse. When Taylor intervenes, he's sucked out of his uneasy loner existence into an alliance with Reed that will ripen into a close friendship. Tilley, who knows little about the art he's peddling, offers a dubious masterpiece for $3 million, but Reed, for a much smaller sum, comes away with "a prize worth more than the gross domestic product of Bulgaria." The shocking painting, which Reed is convinced is by Leonardo da Vinci, gives Kilmer a chance to provide a flippant but incisive critique of Leonardo's accomplishments and genius while his heroes ferret out the truth. (Oct.)
