White Lead

Stella Da Silvera would much rather work at night than during the day. It’s better for her work at Claiborne’s Auction House anyway – natural light can be exceedingly damaging to the old paintings she restores. One night, she’s working on a painting by Velazquez when she hears sounds of a struggle and a scream from the auction house’s curator’s office. She runs to the office to see what’s happened, but finds nothing out-of-order until she returns to her workroom. There, she finds a very dead body and a frightening man with tattoos. She manages to escape and call the police, but when they arrive, the man, the body and the very expensive painting are all gone. The police believe Stella made up the whole story as a cover so she could steal the portrait. When they refuse to believe anything she has to say, Stella has to take matters into her own hands. I liked the look inside an auction house and painting restoration, it added another layer to this excellent mystery

This thriller would be more enjoyable without a premonition for readers of Tana French and Stieg Larsson. I am a fan of both and I feel let down. Not to say that this wasn’t enjoyable once you realize to read this as a melodrama with humorous elements. I enjoyed art references and thrills of mystery, but characters felt cartoonish and unreal. Personally I think this novel is over complicated for a simple fast read, but it doesn’t not have developed characters to be taken close to heart and read in the way I expected it.