The Wrong Impression: A Tim Simpson Mystery

Rugby player-turned-art expert Tim Simpson discovers a connection between a mysterious Pissarro painting and the assault on his friend, Nobby Roberts, a detective struggling to expose a drug ring

English banker cum art expert Tim Simpson ( Mortal Ruin , etc.) is as urbane an amateur sleuth as Peter Wimsey, and more virile. Here Tim's best friend, inspector Nobby Roberts, is comatose after being attacked while investigating drug deals and money-laundering. Although ordered to stay out of the case by a Scotland Yard commander, Tim picks up a clue dropped by a fetching nurse, which suggests an art angle. The trail leads to a reformed art forger, whose corpse Tim finds. Almost simultaneously he makes fierce enemies of the police, his lover leaves him and the nurse turns up in his bed. The bodies accumulate and Tim himself faces lethal danger before he can solve the puzzles posed by a (possible) long-lost Monet and a Pissarro, art export licenses and vicious drug dealers. Along the way Malcolm offers lore about the impressionists and a witty look at the current art-biz scene: an art dealer is "like a Ferrari salesman . . . there to flatter the prospect's idea of himself." A real treat.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Series sleuth Tim Simpson ( Whistler in the Dark, LJ 1/87), shocked by a brutal attack on his friend, Chief Inspector Nobby Roberts, sets out to find the man's assailants. Despite warnings from police not to interfere, cautions from his boss, and the defection of long-time girlfriend/art expert Susan, Tim (who resembles an upper-class, civilized Lovejoy) starts questioning suspects. Before long he discovers connections between the London art world and Nobby's investigation into drug dealing. More murders occur, but Tim and the police finally put the clues together for an exciting finale. Finely written, fortified with interesting art history, and strongly characterized.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.