Description:
The secret of writing a good mystery about the world of art is being able to share the enthusiasm about an object or an artist--to make even those readers who respond only to pictures painted on fuzzy velvet rise to the occasion. Nicholas Kilmer does this as well as anyone in the field, and Dirty Linen is another gem. When Fred Taylor looks out the window of a sleazy sex motel called the Silver Spur in Fall River, Massachusetts (Lizzie Borden's hometown), and watches a pair of security guards roughing up a badly behaved customer, it finally dawns on him who painted the vast cache of pornographic pictures he has just acquired. "A wash of blood, nostalgia, pity and terror crossed Fred's eyes. 'Turner,' he said aloud. Our boy is Joseph Mallord William Turner." It's a moment of sublime satisfaction, for Fred and us. Indeed, that famous English artist is the man responsible for the paintings--treasures that Fred's wealthy employer Clayton Reed desires. Reed's identity must be kept hidden, so an anonymous dealer is sent in by Fred. Then this middleman is savagely beaten, all the proceeds of the auction are suddenly called back, and things begin to get nasty for Fred as well as his friends and loved ones. So while the elegant Reed hides out at the Silver Spur, enjoying the room service and cataloging the collection with the help of some quick-learning working girls, the former Vietnam vet Taylor goes out into the streets of Boston and its more posh suburbs to find out who wants Turner's dirty linen badly enough to kill for it. Along the way, we learn how a great art restorer works his magic, what part the writer John Ruskin played in Turner's life, and--as Kilmer did so well in past books such as Man with a Squirrel and O Sacred Head, how an excellent writer can turn fine art into an excellent mystery. --Dick Adler
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