Madonna of the Apes

August 22, 2005
Fans of Kilmer's quirky art mysteries will welcome the delightfully inventive sixth entry in this underappreciated series (Harmony in Flesh and Black
, etc.), a prequel that explains how art critic Fred Taylor and wealthy, reclusive Boston collector Clayton Reed met. Franklin Tilley, a young man in possession of an eclectic art collection of uncertain provenance and ownership, sets up Reed for a scam or worse. When Taylor intervenes, he's sucked out of his uneasy loner existence into an alliance with Reed that will ripen into a close friendship. Tilley, who knows little about the art he's peddling, offers a dubious masterpiece for $3 million, but Reed, for a much smaller sum, comes away with "a prize worth more than the gross domestic product of Bulgaria." The shocking painting, which Reed is convinced is by Leonardo da Vinci, gives Kilmer a chance to provide a flippant but incisive critique of Leonardo's accomplishments and genius while his heroes ferret out the truth.

September 15, 2005
Every hero needs an origin story, and Fred Taylor is finally getting his. Fans of Kilmer's series about Taylor, the man who keeps unconventional art collector Clayton Reed out of trouble, will no doubt enjoy the chance to see how the two came together. The story involves a painting of dubious origin, a scam, and a murder. It's a fast-paced introduction to the world of art collecting told by someone who knows whereof he writes: Kilmer is himself a painter and art dealer. Readers unfamiliar with the series may feel like they're missing things (the novel appears to be written with the assumption that we're already familiar with the characters), but fans will enjoy the novel's many foreshadowings of things to come. Kilmer belongs in the hands of those who enjoy Jonathan Gash's Lovejoy series or Iain Pears' Jonathan Argyll novels.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2005, American Library Association.)