by Ace Atkins
Part of Spenser, book 46
First published 2018
Paint chips from a stolen El Greco masterpiece land on a Boston journalist's desk twenty years after a legendary museum heist. The fragments belong to "The Gentleman in Black," the most valuable piece taken from one of Boston's premier art institutions. Museum officials recruit PI Spenser to investigate what most believed was a cold case with the artwork lost forever. The investigation pulls Spenser into Boston's black market art trade, where he encounters aging Mafia bosses and dealers trafficking stolen masterpieces. An elderly socialite offers a five million dollar reward for the painting's return, raising the stakes considerably. Spenser teams up with Vinnie Morris and Hawk to follow a trail that leads through jailhouse confessions and murders that stretch back decades. Old vendettas surface as they dig deeper into the art theft. The case forces Spenser to navigate dangerous territory where million dollar paintings and violent criminals intersect in Boston's underworld.
Genres: art, mystery, crime, thriller, action
Vibes: fast-paced, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: amateur-sleuth, found-family, unlikely-allies
Setting: Boston, El Greco
Period: 20 Years Ago
333 pages · Kindle Edition · G.P. Putnam's Sons
Content warnings: violence