Stealing The Spanish Princess by Bea Green

Synopsis
In this captivating and dazzling art crime mystery, eccentric detective Richard Langley hunts for a 16th-century masterpiece by the artist El Greco. The thief stole the priceless painting from an apartment in Kensington, London, and in the process knifed to death a Russian woman. DCI Richard Langley from Scotland Yard’s Art and Antiquities Unit joins colleagues from Homicide as they pursue a trail that leads them to St Petersburg and then to Madrid. Following closely in their footsteps is a maverick private investigator hired by the painting’s owner. Knowing how hard it is to sell on stolen artworks of that calibre, Richard wonders what the motive behind its theft might be. The answer, when it comes, takes everyone by surprise.

Review
My love of art and a good mystery always draw me towards books that bring the two together, a lost masterpiece, an art historian whose job it is to find it, the dangers they face and the wonderful locations around the world; whats not to like. Stealing The Spanish Princess is an excellent example of this genre of thriller. In Kensington, a body is found at the home of a Russian businessman, and a priceless sixteenth century painting by El Greco stolen. DCI Richard Langley of Scotland Yards Art and Antiquities Unit has to work with Homocide to try and find a murderer and the painting. As their investigation gains pace they find themselves going to Russia and Spain in the search for answers, but only find more questions as to who and why someone would kill for art.

Stealing The Spanish Princess reminded me of Ian Pears Italian art-history crime series featuring Jonathan Argyll, which is still one of my all time favourite crime series. Rather than focus a real piece of art, Bea Green imagines a portrait of Princess Catalina Micaela, daughter of the King of Spain, El Greco’s patron,and someone he had painted before. Bea Green has certainly done her research with this book, not only in imagining a painting that could in fact have been painted by El Greco based on his career, but also on the methods the artist uses, the pigmanets and how in the present day old masterpieces can be restored. The plot is really fast paced, with both a murder and a an art theft to solve, with slightly more time given to the art theft. As with many art theft mystery books the plot takes the reader to some of the most amazing galleries in the world, and in this case it was the Prado in Madrid, with its collection of grand masters including Rubens, Raphael and Valaquez to name a few. I loved the fact that Bea Green really captured the traits and nuances of the places DI Langley travels to; the coldness and directness of the Russians, the Spanish and their love of food and the British with their formality, all a bit tongue in cheek.

The book is referred to as An Inspector Langley Mystery, which leaves me in the hope that this is just the first in a new series. I loved Langley’s character, a sort of dishevelled figure, attractive in the floppy haired professor way, but relegated to the basement of Scotland Yard, verifying illegally imported artefacts, and lost art. It isn’t such a glamorous job as you would think, working in a windowlless room, primarily by himself, and even if he does get a case his hands are tied by the limited resources and funds; art theft is not high on the Mets priority list. Langley’s life is mirrored against that of Mike Telford, a priate invesigator into lost art. He works for the owners of the art so has a large expense account and his methods sometimes cross the line; he can do what Langley can’t which is why they occassionally work together. Mike is the good looking hero, taking on the villains and retrning stolen artefacts to museums an collectors around the world.

The homicide detectives on the case are CI Abdul Hazim and DI Eilidh Simmoms. Along with Langley, it is DI Simmons who narrates the chapters, so we learn more about her than her colleague. She comes across as some one who cares about people, bringing a more personable aspect to her job. Her realtionship with Langley sees her take an interest in art history and in Langley himself, and this also gives the reader further insight to his life. Eilidh is type of police officer to take chances, puts herself on the line to catch the culprit, really getting involved in the investigation. If there are more books I am really looking forward to learning more about her, and maybe there could be a spark of romance.

Stealing The Spanish Princess is a brilliant mystery, easy to read and loose yourself in. I loved the characters, the easy going and floopy haired Langley and Eilidh full of life and exuberant character. The attention to detail is superb, and adds to the pleasure in reading this book. Well written and plotted I loved this book and really hope there will be future books featuring Langley and Eilidh.

I would like to thank Conrad Press and Anne Cater for my invite on the blog tour for Stealing The Spanish Princess in return for my honest review.