Lost old art work found in dusty old corner. Is one actually valuable?

I found this book hard work to get through. The premise seemed to suggest a fast-paced comic adventure and the fact it has art as its theme really appealed to me. However I had a number of problems with this book. I didn't like the main character. He came across as a bit too pompous and I didn't enjoy being in his head. And he was so indecisive, reaching a decision, changing his mind and going in circles, it became frustrating and at times I lost what his actual train of thought was. The story itself was a good one, and could have been enjoyable, but it became clogged with essays about art history that interrupted the story a bit too much - I didn't actually read these parts and didn't feel that I'd missed anything. Not that I don't have an interest in the history of art, I really do, but I felt as though I was reading two books at the same time. It just didn't work for me. ( )

witty, lazy,

Enjoyed the Bruegel mystery tour very much, and the first third of the book while it was setting the scene. But for me the farce of the last third of the book didn't really succeed and I did skip over quite a bit of the last few chapters, wanting to hear the plot but not all the detail. ( )

Martin Clay, is a philosopher who moves in to a country cottage with his art-historian wife and infant daughter on the pretext that getting away from the hustle of bustle of London will mean that he will finally be able to knuckle down and work on the book that he has never really got started.

On arrival into the country they are invited to have dinner with their neighbours, the Churts. The Churts' estate is run down and Tony Churt is seemingly always on the lookout on ways to make quick bit cash, and has an ulterior motive in asking them over. Tony wants the Clays to have a look at some old paintings that he wants to unload. He doesn't trust the big auction houses and hopes the Clays can give a valuation and find a way of selling them without him having to pay fees or commission.

There is a huge and ghastly picture by Giordano that Tony and three minor Dutch scenes. However, it is last painting that Martin is shown that he becomes really interested in. He believes that this a missing masterpiece by Pieter Bruegel. Afraid that the Churts will simply sell it to the highest bidder and that it will disappear in to a private collection somewhere abroad and wanting the renown as it's discoverer, Martin decides that he won't tell the the Churts what he suspects and hatches a plan to get it for himself.

Martin's wife Kate isn't convinced about it's authenticity so he sets out to prove his theory whilst at the same time trying to figure out how to get Tony to part with it without arousing his suspicion. Martin thinks that Tony is just a gullible country bumpkin but he soon learns that he more devious than he initially thought. To complicate matters even further Tony's wife, Laura, starts to make sexual advances towards Martin which only puts further stress on the Clay's own marriage.

The story quickly turns into a rather simple and rather entertaining little farce running alongside a more serious examination into the painter's life and the circumstances that might have led to this particular piece of work's disappearance, along the way giving an insight into a turbulent period of Dutch history. One that I for one knew nothing about.

The overall plot is perhaps a little thin and slightly out of balance (a little too weighted towards the art history) but on the whole I felt that Frayn juggled these two very different story-lines extremely well. The farce element kept me amused whilst the theories and history made for fascinating reading. The ending when it arrived was well executed and overall I found this a brisk and entertaining read that,if asked, would certainly recommend it. ( )