Dirty Linen

Nicholas Kilmer writes the most gripping—and well researched—art mysteries of today. With all of the artworld's chicanery and multimillions at stake, the action never flags. This time the cache is an improbable portfolio of erotica purchased clandestinely at a seaside auction, and protecting it leaves collector Clayton Reed mired deep in the seamy underbelly of a Fall River brothel. The pictures may illuminate the dark side of a major artist. Shades of Degas and Toulouse-Lautrec...." Reed and his scholarly man Friday, Fred Taylor, provide the best mystery tandem this side of Nero Wolfe and Archie, matching wits with a well-etched, mixed cast of villains from both country-club and peerage. This is Kilmer at full throttle, a work with characteristic panache." —Larry A. Silver, Farquhar Professor of History of Art, University of Pennsylvania, who writes an Afterword for Dirty Linen. Originally published in 1999 by Henry Holt, Dirty Linen is the fourth Fred Taylor art mystery following Poisoned Pen Press' releases of Harmony in Flesh and Black, Man with a Squirrel, and O Sacred Head.