Death of an Old Master (A Lord Francis Powerscourt Mystery, #3) (Lord Francis Powerscourt)

by David Dickinson

In May 1901 the Salisbury Galleries announce the biggest exhibition of the Old Master Paintings ever seen in Europe. Excitement is intense. But before it opens, one of Britain's leading art experts, Christopher Montague, is found murdered in his study. When Lord Francis Powerscourt is called in to investigate he finds every book, notepad and scrap of paper has been removed from the scene of the crime. Montague had been working on something that would have rocked the art world. Did his article that claimed a number of the Old Masters had been painted recently by a single hand have anything to do with his death? Powerscourt embarks on an odyssey through a treacherous world of art dealers and picture restorers in pursuit of a master forger. He travels to Sicily where the trail goes cold, but, after the thrills and danger of that wild, lawless isalnd, in a remopte corer of England, the truth is finally revealed.

• ISBN10: 1780334141
• ISBN13: 9781780334141
• Publish Date: 1 September 2011 (first published 29 January 2004)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group
• Imprint: Constable Crime
• Edition: Digital original
• Format: eBook (EPUB)
• Pages: 416
• Language: English

Reviews

[tellemonstar]

Art forgers, jilted lovers, somehwat gullible American multi-millionaries and priceless masterpieces weave the journey for Lord Powerscourt in Death of an Old Master, the third tale from David Dickinson about his series about an ex-Army Intelligence Officer, Lord Francis Powerscourt.

Lady Lucy, Lord Francis' wife of 7 years, asks hims to investigate the death of one of her many relatives, Christopher Montague. Montague is an up-and-coming art critic and author who was writing an article about some of the beautiful Masterpieces currently on show at Piper and de Courcy's art gallery being well-painted forgeries. He was found dead in the study of his flat, garotted with piano wire. His mistress' husband is missing and so are many of his books and every last scrap of paper in his desk and the room.

So the mystery begins. Was it something to do with the Italian Masterpieces and the art dealers who made hundreds of thousands by commanding steep prices from American businessmen? Was it the mistress' missing husband? Was it one of the authenticators whom Montague would put out of business with the success of both his article and next book? Dickinson leads us around London and parts of rural England (well, rural in the late 1800s), as Lord Francis tries to find the true murderer before it is too late.

A more detailed review: http://blog.butterflytempest.net/