“Francis Bacon’s guilt and feelings of betrayal after the suicide of his longtime lover, George Dyer, are expressed in his later paintings. Can you feel the raw emotion as he painted this contorted figure?” Though I found these paintings, they are not shown here..."
“Truth Descending upon the Arts and Science,” remarked Gilmore, breaking into her thoughts. She started. “Did you know, the artist Robert Streator painted the ceiling’s thirty-two panels in Whitehall, London, and transported them to Oxford by barge?” Gilmore continued. “The fiery centre symbolises Truth triumphing over Envy, Rapier and Ignorance.”
“Ladies and gentlemen. If I could have your attention,” announced George’s amplified voice. Conversations in the marquee slowly stopped and George said, “Our first Lot is a meal for four at the Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons.” Bidding was strong for the items on offer, which also included a week for eight people in a villa on the shores of Lake Garda, and one week’s skiing with a chalet for six people in Val d’Isere, France. “The next Lot has kindly been donated by Jay Newton, Tracy Ivers and Faye Dewey. It includes signed copies of Jay’s original hit with the Spinning Newts, Cries of the Street, a CD of the revised version called Who Can Hear Me, signed by Jay and his co-singer, Cadence Colby, and Cadence’s Janis Joplin denim jacket, which Faye was wearing when she sang so fantastically this evening.” Guests applauded and whistled. “We already have a bid of £1,500. Any advance on 1,500?” George scanned the audience and Norman waved and pointed to a curly-haired lady wearing a yellow silk jacket. “1,600,” declared George. Other guests raised their hands, and the bidding increased to £4,800. “Selling at £4,800. Any advance on 4,800?” asked George, looking around the marquee. “Sold.” The winning bidder was the curly-haired lady who’d made the first bid. Dotty was pleased for her. “And the final Lot I’ll be auctioning tonight is a wonderful L.S. Lowry painting entitled, Lunchbreak, generously donated by Lord Stanley-Rudd,” announced George. Again, the guests clapped. “We already have a bid of £8,500.” There were a few intakes of breath. It was a high starting price. A man approached Lord Stanley-Rudd and whispered in his ear. The lord turned puce and exclaimed, “Not that jumped-up, little weasel.” He raised his hand and called, “£8,550.” George’s voice rose in pitch as she slowly repeated, “£8,550.” Was the weasel Lord Stanley-Rudd was referring to Ken Tyler? Now Dotty thought about it, there had been a K. Tyler as top bidder on the internet for one of the items. Would Ken bid against Lord Stanley-Rudd to win the painting back? She looked around but there was no sign of the blue-jacketed Ken. “Any advance on £8,850?” asked George. None of the guests moved. “Sold to Lord Stanley-Rudd for £8,550.” There was loud applause and a few cries of “Good man” and Jay stood and walked across to His Lordship’s table.
~~~~
If you have not already guessed, we are in the midst of a number of activities that are managed by those in the business of making auctions happen... In fact, the beginning of the book is spent in discussions related to this work. I admit I tried to get some samples to include from all that was happening, but began to wonder if I were finding the right pieces... In any event, if you begin to feel lost, hang in there, as I did, because you are about to get involved with a mystery like no other! It is indeed a cozy murder mystery, but this time there is also a bit of art thievery thrown in to expand the complexity of the plot! It worked! Prepare to work hard to try to determine whodunit. It was only toward the very end that I began to wonder... And it resulted in a sad ending for some...
Dottie is our amateur investigator, but she is also part of the group that prepares for auctions for paintings. But there is also another component of the business which includes antique sellers so she is usually involved wherever she is needed... Her off-hours are spent taking classes to learn even more about art history... And it was there that she found herself developing an interest in one of the lecturers...
A wide cast of characters makes this a page-turner as readers begin to meet the "more refined and upper-class owners and buyers of works of art. Indeed, we learn that those in this class often have found it harder to keep up their inheritances, often choosing to get copies made of the personal paintings, so that they can then sell the real painting which is now worth much more than when it was purchased--so they could fix the roof, or some other maintenance to their homes, which are now being used to host events of various types in order to bring in money...
It is nearing Christmas and an auction planning is underway. One of the highlights of this auction will be a valuable painting donated by Lord Stanley-Rudd, a local contributor to the arts... This time, however, when he learned that there was already a bid received in advance of the auction--and who it was made by--he actually broke into the routine bidding process and immediately bid for the painting he had donated. And raised the bid by 50... It was natural to assume that he had changed his mind about giving up the painting, and so the auction continued...
But soon a bidder which Stanley-Rudd had out-bid was found murdered... near the picture which had been on display!
The thing about the victim, as the investigation began after the end of the auction--the staff had quietly removed the body, letting people think he was just injured--was that he was a conman of the worst kind. He used the one thing in the background of people about which they were ashamed... And then demanded some percentage of the individual's livelihood to be turned over legally to him. Most had agreed... But as the investigation began with those in attendance at the auction, the number of potential people who would want the man dead kept growing!
Interestingly, having to reveal their backgrounds during the investigation, often relieved the minds of those who had been blackmailed...
In the meantime Dottie was busy but had been asked for a recommendation of a Christmas gift by Jay, who had hosted an event. It needed to be somehow related to music which was not handled by their company so she started looking for another distributor. Found one. The owner paid for it, and Dottie picked it up, only to determine, when they opened the gift, that it was...fake...
And, that, as they moved forward, realized that the painting that had been donated for the auction was also...fake!
The murder had not been solved! Now an entirely different crime had been added! Who was making fakes, replacing originals, providing fakes to the owners, and then selling the originals at full price to private collectors who didn't care about provenance!
By the way, the gray cat belonging to Dottie is called "Earl Gray" - loved the play on the British tea specialty. And that there is an entirely separate plot surrounding the life of Dottie and where she lives... Quite heartwarming... as they prepared for how to celebrate Christmas... with plans being changed left and right as...life...goes...on...
For Dottie...Substituting for Vienna Boys Choir...
An extraordinary, thoroughly intriguing look into the art world--of criminals and murderers! Highly Recommended.
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