Marion Spicer had believed her father dead - her mother
used the lie to cover the fact that the ruthless man had
abandoned his family to a humble life while he took off to
pursue his interests. Now with the death of THE COLLECTOR
the truth is out. Marion will inherit a hoard of pre-
Columbian artefacts, some beautiful, some disturbing. But
there is a condition, which may prove too high a price.
In this first Marion Spicer Art Mystery, we meet a
determined lady who has followed her own inclination to
become a private detective specialising in stolen art. So
tracking down three emerald-encrusted sculptures her brash
father, Edmond Magni, had owned shouldn't be too difficult.
Only, why did the man sell them in the first place? How did
he come to own them, and why is the late collector's
personal assistant less than helpful?
Marion lives in Paris and she first researches to ensure
that the sculptures are not on the stolen list, then asks a
colleague with more expertise in the era for help. Normally
she makes the rounds of auction houses looking for
eighteenth-century art and antiques. Before too long
though, her family secret is out, in this closed world,
and she's in danger.
While this is not a lengthy book we jump quickly between
settings and meet many people, so we can't relax. With
rumours of tomb raiders in Peru, the crimes clearly don't
stop with auctioneers. Along the route we visit creepy
cellars, the Louvre, and other fine buildings. Marion meets
a dealer named Ozenberg on business, thinks of him by his
surname, and the next time she sees him, has sex on the floor.
I thought this peculiar and hasty since she doesn't know
if he's married, and it's possible he's a killer. But maybe
women act this way in France. Personally I'd rather not
perpetuate this image because when I walked through Paris
bundled up in coats and jeans against the rain, strange men
on the street were asking me to come for a drink with them.
Through the voice of a character we gain insights into what
makes a person into a collector and how the pursuit of the
next item can become a kind of drug. The desire to be
powerful and controlling lasts even after THE COLLECTOR has
died in this pacy thriller. Anne-Laure Thiéblemont has
based the story on her own reporting of art crime and
meetings with collectors while a journalist. If this lacing
of history with art and danger lures you, the Marion
Spicer Art Mystery series will definitely be for you.
In the merciless microcosm of Paris art auctions and
galleries, some people collect art, while others collect
trouble. Marion Spicer spends her days examining auction
catalogues and searching for stolen works of art. She is a
top-notch investigator when it comes to eighteenth-century
art. But for her it's just a job and her life is well ordered.
All this changes when she inherits a huge and very
prestigious collection of pre-Columbian art from a father
she never knew. There are conditions attached: she must
first find three priceless statues. That is when her
troubles begin. Her father’s death sparked much greed, and
Marion finds herself facing sharks, schemes, fences, traps,
scams, and attacks. Her quest draws her into a world where
people will kill for a love of beauty.
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