John Malcolm (2) (1936–)

Tim and wife head to the coast to meet an old friend who sent a note hinting he has seen a painting (they deduce from his hint of the words "sheep, goats and soap" that it's a Pre-Raphaelite painting). Tim's job is to buy art for his bank. When they arrive, they find the cottage has gone over the cliff (lots of background about the cliffs of England slowly caving in); and two bodies are found, including a Japanese gentleman who may also have been in the area seeking art. Tim's friend, show more policeman Knobby Roberts, investigating, and Tim too is seeking his friend and the mysterious painting. show less

It's sort of British hard-boiled, feels very 80s (published 1984), stars and is narrated by Tim Simpson, who is the investment advisor for the Art Fund, which invests in art, antiques, and so forth. Tim sets out to buy a sideboard designed by Godwin which should cost around 25,000 pounds. Turns out scarcity isn't the only problem with buying this piece, when the antique dealer winds up dead. Tim isn't just an art and antiques advisor, he's also ex-rugger, so we get some two-fisted action as show more well. show less

An old-fashioned sort of crime-fiction, mystery book with an amateur as the main detective (Agatha Christie style) - someone who is apparently often in the wrong place at the wrong time.

I think this has a bit more depth than the writing of authors like Agatha Christie though, as there is a lot more detail and atmosphere-building. For example, the settings are described often in great detail (especially in terms of their architecture - the author must have been interested in this) and there show more is more information on the characters and their backgrounds.

I would recommend this for an easy, fairly short and light read - especially if you´re interested in antiques and architecture. The writing style and dialogue does seem a bit dated though, but personally I find it interesting to read things like this from time to time. show less

First Line: Quite often, when the rain comes slanting out of the grey London sky, drenching the trees in Hyde park outside my office window, I think of a back room, another back room, in São Paulo, where the slatted bright stripes of sunlight fell across the rumpled bedclothes and warm skin, like a painting by Bernard Dunstan.

John Malcolm is an acknowledged expert in the field of art and antiques, and each book in his series of mysteries featuring Tim Simpson centers on a specific (real) show more work of art.

In this first book in the series, Simpson has been hired by a London merchant bank to buy art to bolster the investment portfolios of its extremely wealthy clients. The first painting he sees won't make anyone rich, but for some reason within hours of viewing this painting, the artwork is stolen and the dealer is killed. Simpson is intrigued and does a little poking around, but he's no sleuth and soon gives up. It's not until he goes to Brazil on unrelated business that he finds out what happened in that back room in Somers Town.

Sometimes timing is all in reading. A book that doesn't capture your attention when you're distracted or not feeling well may leave you enraptured if you read it at another time. I just couldn't sink into this book. As you can tell by the first sentence that I shared above, Malcolm's style in this first book is a bit meandering. Due to my health, I found myself nodding off, dropping the book, waking up, finding my place, starting over, nodding off.... Sadly, I just couldn't get my mind into it and couldn't finish it.

Don't let my feeble-mindedness put you off if you're in the mood for a mystery set in the art world. Your timing can definitely be better than mine! show less