Rembrandt Panel, The

Minimal library distinctions, pocket intact, USVA stamped on text block, else contents appear as unread & unblemished in very good rust & black boards. DJ & Poly protector displaying no significant surface/edge wear, as shown.

KIRKUS REVIEW

Murder in the Boston art-world: a splendid first 50 pages, then disappointingly downhill (though not unpleasantly so) all the rest of the way. In those grand opening chapters, Banks introduces us to savvy art-dealer Sammy Weinstock and to museum director Elton Ross--each of whom has independently realized that an old picture picked up by seedy auction-circuit scavenger Harry Giardino is indeed a true Rembrandt. And Ross, desperate for a major acquisition (having just paid $750,000 for a Greek pot that turned out to be stolen), kills Harty. . . but doesn't find the Rembrandt, which is in fact at Sammy's gallery. Then follows terrific cat-and-mousing between patrician Ross and earthy Sammy--right? Wrong--because Ross quickly zeroes in on Sammy, kills him (eliminating the novel's best character by far), and grabs the Rembrandt. So the rest of the novel belongs to the cops and to private-eye Amos Hatcher (employed by the International Association of Art Dealers)--who uses a single clue (the frame of the Rembrandt) and lots of hunches to figure out whodunit and why. This detection involves scenic trips to Amsterdam and Zurich, the close cooperation of Sammy's comely assistant, and chunks of nicely integrated expertise on the Dutch masters. But the Columbo format (we know the killer from the start) is inherently un-suspenseful; the final trapping of villain Ross isn't very gripping; and cool-British Amos is a pretty bland hero, especially when compared with the much-missed Sammy. Competent investigation/suspense, then, with oodles of likable erudition--but a pale, linear shadow of the full-fledged thriller that talented first-novelist Banks might have managed if he'd kept Sammy around for the duration.

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