Chris Norgren mysteries by Aaron Elkins

1. A Deceptive Clarity (1987)
In Berlin to help mount an exhibit of priceless paintings, once thought lost, museum curator and Renaissance art expert Chris Norgren must turn detective when his boss is murdered soon after voicing concern over the paintings' authenticity.

2. A Glancing Light (1991)
Set in the gossipy, rumor-ridden art world, this thoroughly enjoyable mystery begins with the discovery of a fake Van Eyck and a real Rubens in the Seattle warehouse of an importer of schlock art sold en masse to hotels. Identifying the works almost instantly is ironic, self-deprecating narrator Chris Norgren, first met in Deceptive Clarity. Chris, a curator at the Seattle Art Museum, is swept up in the dangerous hunt for thieves, perhaps mafiosi, who stole the Rubens and other works in three almost simultaneous hauls--worth $100 million--in Bologna 22 months earlier.

3. Old Scores (1993)
Seattle Art Museum curator Chris Norgren falls prey to the lure of a newly discovered Rembrandt in this third in a spirited series (after A Glancing Light ). He also topples head-first out of a second-story window, but the nasty fall is happily blunted by a conveniently located car. Acquiring art isn't usually perilous, but anything is possible when the work is in the care of French dealer Rene Vachey, notorious for passing off thefts as publicity stunts. Vachey has offered the Rembrandt--if it really is a Rembrandt--as a gift to Chris's museum, with a veritable spider's web of strings attached. He will, however, permit only a cursory viewing and explicitly forbids scientific authentication. Chris, adrift in France, far from the arms of his girl, feels pretty sure that the painting is the genuine article. But after Vachey is murdered, his claim to have found the Rembrandt in a junk shop suddenly seems dubious; moreover, his employees have excellent motives to dislike him, several art experts have been burned by his outrageous exploits, and he even has that old crime fiction favorite, a deadbeat son recently dunned out of his dad's dough in a suspect will.

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