"A gripping story of deception in the world of international fine art. Restorer and spy Gabriel Allon embarks on a dangerous hunt across Europe for the secret behind the forgery of a seventeenth-century masterpiece that has fooled experts and exchanged hands for millions"-- Restorer and spy Gabriel Allon embarks on a dangerous hunt across Europe for the secret behind the forgery of a seventeenth-century masterpiece, attributed to Sir Anthony van...

"Art scams are today so numerous that the specter of a lawsuit arising from a mistaken attribution has scared a number of experts away from the business of authentication, and with good reason. Art scams are increasingly convincing and involve incredible sums of money. The cons perpetrated by unscrupulous art dealers and their accomplices are proportionately elaborate. The Art of the Con tells the stories of some of history's most notorious yet untold...

"The world's most renowned art forger reveals the secrets behind his decades of painting like the masters--exposing an art world that is far more corrupt than we ever knew while providing an art history lesson wrapped in sex, drugs, and Caravaggio"--Dust jacket flap.

Introduces unconventional clergyman Sidney Chambers, who teams up with roguish Inspector Harry Keating to investigate a suspicious suicide, a jewelry theft, the unexplained demise of a jazz promoter, and a shocking art forgery.