A newly discovered Da Vinci is bought for the nation. One man believes it's a fake.
When a "newly discovered" Leonardo da Vinci portrait, The Man with the Skull, surfaces at Christie’s, the art world is electrified. Purchased for the nation for a staggering £60 million, it is hailed as the find of the century. But to Professor Edmund Gale, this work is "too perfect". When his research into the painting’s suspicious provenance ends with his 'suicide' in a West London canal, the search for the truth falls to investigative journalist Sofie James.
Gale's research folder looks promising. But then she hits a wall. The National Gallery won't release its tests, and Christie's won't name the seller. The only thread she can pull leads to a Russian oligarch in Surrey and the perfect copy of a famous icon. Cue ex-special forces security consultant Cal Harrison, the one man she can call on for help.
Their investigation uncovers a lethal web of high-stakes deception stretching from the elite auction houses of London to the ancient glass furnaces of Murano in Venice. Standing in their way is a shadowy Russian oligarch with a pretty assistant, and a terrifying reach into the British establishment.
As Cal and Sofie peel back the layers of an intricate forgery scheme, they discover a revolutionary technology capable of reverse-engineering the genius of the Old Masters. With a corrupt Culture Secretary under the oligarch's thumb and professional assassins on their trail, Cal and Sofie must expose the man behind the curtain before the "Old Master" claims its next victim - a trail which leads them to a mountain track high above Lake Como, where a single shot is a winner-takes-all.
A gripping, high-octane thriller where the price of the truth is far higher than the cost of the art.
Genre: Thriller
When a "newly discovered" Leonardo da Vinci portrait, The Man with the Skull, surfaces at Christie’s, the art world is electrified. Purchased for the nation for a staggering £60 million, it is hailed as the find of the century. But to Professor Edmund Gale, this work is "too perfect". When his research into the painting’s suspicious provenance ends with his 'suicide' in a West London canal, the search for the truth falls to investigative journalist Sofie James.
Gale's research folder looks promising. But then she hits a wall. The National Gallery won't release its tests, and Christie's won't name the seller. The only thread she can pull leads to a Russian oligarch in Surrey and the perfect copy of a famous icon. Cue ex-special forces security consultant Cal Harrison, the one man she can call on for help.
Their investigation uncovers a lethal web of high-stakes deception stretching from the elite auction houses of London to the ancient glass furnaces of Murano in Venice. Standing in their way is a shadowy Russian oligarch with a pretty assistant, and a terrifying reach into the British establishment.
As Cal and Sofie peel back the layers of an intricate forgery scheme, they discover a revolutionary technology capable of reverse-engineering the genius of the Old Masters. With a corrupt Culture Secretary under the oligarch's thumb and professional assassins on their trail, Cal and Sofie must expose the man behind the curtain before the "Old Master" claims its next victim - a trail which leads them to a mountain track high above Lake Como, where a single shot is a winner-takes-all.
A gripping, high-octane thriller where the price of the truth is far higher than the cost of the art.
Genre: Thriller
Used availability for JD Wood's The Old Master