Madonna of the Apes (A Fred Taylor Art Mystery)

Fred Taylor, a veteran of unspecified clandestine services that have caused him to spend hard times in Southeast Asia, finds himself at loose ends in Boston. A late-night chance encounter in the city's Beacon Hill area throws his lot in with eccentric art collector Clayton Reed. Reed has been tricked by a young man as unscrupulous as he is ignorant into examining and considering for purchase a collection of paintings whose presence in the U.S. seems, at best, informal. Fred, sensing Reed's naïveté in matters of personal security, volunteers to guarantee that security. At the same time, Reed's acumen as a connoisseur astounds Fred. How could Reed just walk away from the situation with what he later gloatingly describes as “a prize worth more than the gross domestic product of Bulgaria?” What Reed has purchased appears to be a painting by one of the most important artists of the Italian Renaissance. But is it what it seems? Can The Madonna of the Apes be a forgery? How did it come to be, so quietly, in Boston? These questions propel Reed and Fred into an increasingly murderous tangle, guided only by the assurances of a sequence of art dealers who lie as easily as they withhold the truth about the painting, its true nature, and its history. Fred Taylor, a veteran of unspecified clandestine services that have caused him to spend hard times in Southeast Asia, finds himself at loose ends in Boston. A late-night chance encounter in the city's Beacon Hill area throws his lot in with eccentric art collector Clayton Reed. Reed has been tricked by a young man as unscrupulous as he is ignorant into examining and considering for purchase a collection of paintings whose presence in the U.S. seems, at best, informal. Fred, sensing Reed's naiveti in matters of personal security, volunteers to guarantee that security at the same time as Reed's acumen as a connoisseur astounds Fred. How could Reed just walk away from the situation with what he later gloatingly describes as ""a prize worth more than the gross domestic product of Bulgaria."" What Reed has purchased appears to be a painting by one of the most important artists of the Italian Renaissance. But is it what it seems Can The Madonna of the Apes be a forgery How did it come to be, so quietly, in Boston These questions propel Reed and Fred into an increasingly murderous tangle, guided only by the assurances of a sequence of art dealers who lie as easily as they withhold the truth about the painting, its true nature, and its history. Nicholas Kilmer is the author of five previous Fred Taylor art mysteries.

When eccentric Boston art collector Clayton Reed purchases what appears to be a painting by one of the most important artists of the Italian Renaissance, Fred Taylor is propelled into an increasingly murderous tangle. Could it be a forgery?

Publishers Weekly

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.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.