Author Mike Faricy has written many books over the years won several awards and is an Independent Author who has sold lots of books, but the real reason I read this book is that I love art and am always up for a mystery about famous artists and their work.  This book involves a painting by Pierre-Auguste Renoir.  

Although a mystery, and a good one at that, it is by no means a serious one.  Dev Haskell, Private Eye, is a mixture of sharp inspector and comedy relief in his private life.  Feeling a sense of benevolence, Dev offers a friend (Demarcus Cantrell) his guest room for a few days while the friend looks for a place to live.  Unfortunately, after only two days the situation has become impossible for Dev.  The guy drank all his Jamesons and his beer, let the bathtub overflow to the point of the ceiling caving in, and talks Dev into picking up by himself a cargo van worth of art supplies and paintings from the home of the girlfriend that kicked him out.   

Dev is shocked when he goes to retrieve Demarcus’ stuff and finds that the last straw for previous girlfriend Colleen was when she came home from work to find a mural covering the entire wall of her dining room of a naked lady sitting on a platter of china that was painted to be an exact replica of her grandmother’s china.  When loading up the art materials and paintings Colleen (the ex) and Dev bond sharing their unbelief at Demarcus’ behavior, not to mention his unbelievable talent.

For fear of spoiling the story, let me say that this book involves an art forgery crime ring from France, a couple of dancer/prostitutes, bad guys that like to beat up people, and a kidnapping.  There is a tangled plot, some sex, and a lot of comedy.  When it is all said and done this is an outstanding short read for a weekend!