A Deceptive Clarity

By Aaron Elkins

Book Overview

Chris Norgren, museum curator and Renaissance art expert, heads to Berlin to assist in mounting a sensational exhibit: The Plundered Past-twenty priceless Old Masters looted by the Nazis, thought for decades to be lost forever, and only recently rediscovered. But things quickly get out of hand when Chris's patrician, fastidious boss, after smelling a forgery in the lot, turns up dead the very next day-on the steps of a dismal Frankfurt brothel, of all places. Now Chris faces two daunting tasks: finding a fake painting among the masterpieces and a real killer whose sights are now set on him. Aaron Elkins is a former anthropologist and professor who has been writing mysteries and thrillers since 1982. His major continuing series features forensic anthropologist-detective Gideon Oliver, "the Skeleton Detective." There are fifteen published titles to date in the series. The Gideon Oliver books have been (roughly) translated into a major ABC-TV series and have been selections of the Book-of-the-Month Club, the Literary Guild, and the Readers Digest Condensed Mystery Series. His work has been published in a dozen languages. Mr. Elkins won the 1988 Edgar Award for best mystery of the year for Old Bones, the fourth book in the Gideon Oliver Series. He and his cowriter and wife, Charlotte, also won an Agatha Award, and he has also won a Nero Wolfe Award. Mr. Elkins lives on Washington's Olympic Peninsula with Charlotte.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1497642965
• ISBN13: 9781497642966
• Release Date: July 2014
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.
• Length: 216 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.3" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Art history fun and murder!

For those of you who like Aaron Elkins' Gideon Oliver series, I urge you to try the Chris Norgren series. Chris Norgren is an art historian/curator with an expertise in Old Masters. Someone is sponsoring a show of Old Masters that have been located after having been plundered by the Nazis. A colleague who was curating the show asks Chris to come to Germany as he thinks there is a fake within the collection. Unfortunately, he is killed in suspicious circumstances before he can reveal his thoughts. Chris must put the puzzle pieces together before the show can go on. There are three books in the Chris Norgren series. All are enteraining, fun, art history romps. I wrote Aaron Elkins once and asked why he didn't continue the series. He says he would love to, but the publishers don't perceive it as being as marketable as the Gideon Oliver series. Until they relent, find this series as used books and in libraries and enjoy!

A Good Story by a good storyteller

I love all the Chris Norgren books that Aaron Elkins has written. Pick up this book and I am sure you will agree with me that it is well worth your time. There are 3 books in this series and I wish Mr. Elkins would continue the series.

Great Fun Mystery Writing

I stumbled on Aaron Elkins awhile ago, and I promptly went out and bought all of his Gideon Oliver books. When Gideon was finished, I started his Chris N. books - and feel even deeper in love. Elkins truly knows how to write about art, and if you love art and art history the way I do, you'll abosultely love his book dealing with art fraud and the like. Few people can actually deal with mysteries surrounding art, because they skim the details or make reference to braodly popular pieces and artists which they know offhand. Not so with Elkins - he knows both the obscure and the popular, and he writes about art like someone who loves it and understands it. And...about the mystery? You'll like Chris as a character, and like all of Elkins mysteries, this one has plenty of plot twists and turns, and it keeps you guessing about who the culprit could be. That's a plus for any mystery, in my book.