Artist, Lover, Forger, Thief

Kate O’Dade Art Crime, #1

by

Sheila Sharpe

Clever and complex tale of revenge and illusion in the art world.

Artist, Lover, Forger, Thief is the first book in author Sheila Sharpe’s Kate O’Dade Art Crime series, in which an elusive conman and painting forger puts in motion a devious plan for revenge against the murderer who killed his family. With its clever, complex plot and morally gray main characters, I was quickly drawn into this intricate tale set in the world of art collectors and famous paintings. 

Kate O’Dade is a therapist with many clients from the local artistic community, and she is a painter herself. But after her husband dies, leaving her in debt, she recalls how one of her clients had made a fortune selling copies and forgeries of the works of well-known artists. She starts to consider that maybe financial relief might reside in her own two talented hands. But when a valuable painting is left on her doorstep, she’s drawn back into contact with her former patient, who is now a legitimate preservation and restoration specialist and the director of a wealthy art collector’s private museum, or so it seems. 

Nick McCoy is a talented painter in his own right, but the FBI and Scotland Yard are on his trail for forgery and theft. He’s guilty, of course, but a lack of evidence has kept him operating in the open in trusted positions at museums in both England and the U.S. When he comes face to face with his former therapist, he discovers he is still as attracted to her as he was when he was undergoing treatment. While Kate helped him resolve to leave forgery behind, his plans for revenge against the man who is now his employer are about to come to fruition. 

Such a clever tale, beginning with some messy love triangles and a conman you can never really trust. All the main characters are flawed individuals, morally gray, and desperate in their own ways. Adding to the suspense is the arrival of a top-notch international team of art investigators, led by a detective chief inspector from London who has been chasing Nick for more than a decade. The evil bad guys, Dixon Steele and his depraved son, Simon, are truly awful people, and both are such loose cannons that I never knew what they were going to do next. I was committed to the story, hoping Nick would pull off whatever he had in store for these two. The story’s ending nicely sets up future books in the series. 

I recommend ARTIST, LOVER, FORGER, THIEF to readers of crime fiction, especially those interested in the art world and long cons. 

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advance Review Copy from the author through Partners in Crime Virtual Book Tours.