Book description
London, 1900: while Monet paints the wintry mists over the Thames,
the bodies of two young women are dragged from its murky depths
arousing fears of a return of Jack the Ripper
By now a celebrated and successful artist - despite the controversy
stirred up by the Impressionist movement - in the early months of the
new century, Monet returned to London to paint his famous Thames
series. Prompted by memories of an earlier visit in 1870, the old man
recalls his youthful struggles, his beloved first wife Camille and his
scandalous relationship with Alice Hoschedé. And now, in a frenzy of
creative activity he paints the haunting canvasses that act as a
backdrop to a series of grizzly, psychopathic killings.
Oliver Craston, a fledgling diplomat, by chance is present when a
horribly mutilated body is pulled from the Thames. Mindful of the need
to steer clear of controversy, he is unwillingly drawn into the police
investigation. Furthermore, with the Foreign Office nervous over
French sympathies with the Boers, Oliver's new acquaintance with M.
Monet and his son, who are staying in the luxury of the Savoy Hotel,
is likely to raise an eyebrow or two. But on the floor above the
Monets' suite, given over as a hospital for wounded officers, stalks a
far greater danger. . . and across the river in the backstreet slums
of Lambeth are visions of horror beyond even the intuition of the
artist. As the naïve young diplomat becomes entangled with bohemian
society and the seamier side of London that the investigation exposes
him to, a disturbing and unfamiliar world opens up to him.
This compelling and mutlilayered novel is an atmospheric exploration
of the life of an artist, a murder thriller and, like Tulip
Fever and Girl With a Pearl Earring, a triumphant example
of 'art fiction'. It is illustrated with 12 reproductions of the
paintings themselves
Jane Jakeman is an author and freelance journalist with a doctorate
in art history. Her first three novels featured the Byronic detective
Lord Ambrose Malfine, which she followed with a modern thriller set on
the Riviera. She regularly reviews crime for the Independent, and lives
in Oxford.
