Get Maitland

Readers with a high tolerance for implausibilities will best appreciate Hunt's fourth mystery featuring Chicago cop–turned–antique dealer Evan Maitland (after 2009's Maitland's Reply). Max Glendenning, a fellow dealer in New York City, hires Maitland to track down the twin of a rare chair worth almost $1 million that was stolen in England before Glendenning could complete its purchase. Maitland's arrival in London attracts the attention of a vicious pair of Kray-like gangsters, brothers Ian and Ken Shivers, who suspect that Maitland's real reason for being on their patch is connected to their deal with Chicago mobsters to dispose of $8 million in stolen bearer bonds. To protect their interests, the Shivers frame Maitland for murder under circumstances that prevent him from turning to the authorities for help. In his struggle to survive and clear his name, Maitland engages in superhuman heroics more in keeping with a cartoonish action film than a gritty, realistic crime novel. (Apr.)