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Rating: 
Summary: Zany Characters... Plot
Review: Claire is a hapless young adult wandering through life when she gets the call that a distant aunt has died. She is the last known living relative and must clean out her aunt's trailer. She takes her dim witted boyfriend with her and they find mostly junk. One picture catches Claire's eye and she keeps it. After checking out the picture and taking a last minute whim trip to New York. She quickly has people looking for her and wanting this picture. It seems that the Nazis took it from a family who wants it back. At times this book got lost and Henry threw anything trying to make the book work. Clair job as a vanity plate approver provides a few comical moments and I had funny trying to decipher the acronyms. Sadly this story didn't connect the dots and the solution to the mystery was not supported by the clues woven in the story. I tried this series out since this author also wrote "Learning To Fly" which many refer to her as her breakout novel. I know this author has potential and I will read the next in the series.
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Summary: fun mystery set in New York and Portland
Review: This debut novel by April Henry is a fun mystery revolving around 35-year old heroine Claire Montrose, a woman with a boring job, an annoying boyfriend and white trash roots. When her great aunt dies and leaves her a mysterious painting, Claire's life takes a turn for the adventurous, and she is soon faced with a lot of questions and a number of characters, trustworthy and un.This book is a quick read with an interesting mystery and, centering as it does around the authenticity of an unknown Vermeer painting, Henry relates a lot of interesting art history while keeping the entertainment level high. Details about Portland and New York are enjoyable (though how could she not bring up Powell's Books?), and the characters are three-dimensional. Well done. I will read other books by this author.
Rating: 
Summary: Art History + License Bureau = Outstanding Debut Novel
Review: Wow! This book had much more substance than I'd imagined when I picked it up. April Henry delivers three areas of expertise - art history, WWII Germany, and working for the License Bureau for the state of Oregon. And somehow, she combines all three to make a very rich novel that made me want to read more of her books and learn more about the artist Vermeer. Any writer who can motivate a reader to look beyond their own words for more deserves an A+ in my book. This debut novel is OUTSTANDING!
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