I LOVE FRANCE
And maybe you do too!
If you have recently read a good book in connection with France,
or watched a movie, read an article on France, etc,
please mention it in the comment section
and add a link to your blog post if you have one.
I will regularly post a recap of all the links mentioned.
If it’s a book review, why not enter it in the 2015 French Bingo?

The Collector

The Collector

by Anne-Laure Thiéblemont

translated by Sophie Weiner

(mystery)

Release date: August 11, 2015
at Le French Book

211 pages

ISBN: 978-1939474445

Website | Goodreads
Source: Received from the publisher

Follow Le French Book on Twitter | on Facebook

Sign up to receive their latest news and deals.

Buy the book | on Indiebound | Amazon | on Barnes & Noble

In full compliance with FTC Guidelines,
I received this ebook for free in exchange for a fair and honest review.
I was in no way compensated for this post as a reviewer, and the thoughts are my own.

This book counts for the
following Reading Challenges

MY THOUGHTS ABOUT THIS BOOK

As far as mysteries are concerned, there’s a subcategory I tend to enjoy more and more, that’s art heist. I reviewed some time ago a wonderful one about the theft of the Mona Lisa. This time, it’s about pre-Columbian art. What’s really neat about The Collector is that the author is herself a gemologist and a journalist specializing in art and gem trafficking. In other words, she knows what she’s talking about.

The opening scene is quite suspenseful, with an attack and something that looks like a crime, plus a theft of a sculpture! Great to peak your interest.
Then we shift to Marion. She works for SearchArt, a firm specializing in stolen art. Her own domain of expertise is 18th century furniture, jewelry, and silverware. So she’s rather surprised when her boss asks her to work on the file of a theft related to pre-Columbian art.
It’s even more weird because of Marion’s family situation: she was just told she has inherited her dad’s unique collection of pre-Columbian art. A dad she didn’t really know because he had abandoned his family decades before. He just died mysteriously in Peru.
This could be a huge inheritance, but there’s a major condition to it: to effectively become the heir of the collection, Marion has to locate and find three special sculptures. Why these three sculptures? What makes them so special? And why on earth didn’t her dad tell her who owns these now, when apparently he may have been the one to sell them himself?
To investigate what’s going on and where these sculptures are, Marion meets her dad’s personal assistant and all kinds of famous people. She gets more familiar with the world of art, antique dealers, and auctions, where she discovers many shady characters. Apart from her personal friend Chris and his mom Beatrice, a gemologist, she cannot know to the end who’s on her side or not, who are the good or the bad guys. There’s a lot at stake, big money, and some guys won’t hesitate to steal and even to kill.

I really liked how the suspense built in this mystery. Things seem quite obvious at first until you realize it’s much more complex, and you are just as confused as Marion.
I liked the weird characters, and the main point of the plot came as an unexpected twist. Quite smart turn of events I certainly was not foreseeing.
I know nothing about gems and precious stones, and there was very interesting information about them and this specific world.
This is the first book in a new series being translated from the French. I’m looking forward to new adventures for art investigator Marion Spicer.

VERDICT: Complex and suspenseful art heist on pre-Columbian art with a smart and unexpected twist. Highly recommended for lovers of art, gems, and mystery.

WHAT IS IT ABOUT

Some people collect art, others collect trouble. Marion Spicer spends her days examining auction catalogues and searching for stolen works of art. She is a top-notch investigator when it comes to eighteenth-century art. But for her it’s just a job and her life is well ordered. All this changes when she inherits a huge and very prestigious collection of pre-Columbian art from a father she never knew. There are conditions attached: she must first find three priceless statues. That is when her troubles begin. Her father’s death sparked much greed, and Marion finds herself facing the merciless microcosm of Paris art auctions and galleries, with its sharks, schemes, fences, traps, scams, and attacks. Her quest draws her into a world where people will kill for a love of beauty. (provided by the publisher)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

An art reporter and trained gem specialist,
Anne-Laure Thiéblemont
is known for her investigations into stolen art
and gem trafficking.
She currently works as a magazine editor,
and splits her time between Paris and Marseille.

ABOUT THE TRANSLATOR

Sophie Weiner is a freelance translator and book publishing assistant from Baltimore, Maryland. After earning degrees in French from Bucknell University and New York University, Sophie went on to complete a master’s in literary translation from the Sorbonne, where she focused her thesis on translating wordplay in works by Oulipo authors. She has translated and written for web-based companies dedicated to art, cinema, and fashion as well as for nonprofit organizations. Growing up with Babar, Madeline, and The Little Prince, Sophie was bitten by the Francophile bug at an early age, and is fortunate enough to have lived in Paris, Lille, and the Loire Valley.

HAVE YOU READ THIS BOOK YET?
Would you have another title to recommend
about art heist?
SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS IN A COMMENT PLEASE

AND NOW FOR A CHANCE TO WIN THIS BOOK

You can enter the global giveaway here
or on any other book blogs participating in this tour.
Be sure to follow each participant on Twitter/Facebook,
they are listed in the entry form below

Entry -Form

Visit each blogger on the tour:
tweeting about the giveaway everyday
of the Tour will give you 5 extra entries each time!
[just follow the directions on the entry-form]

Global giveaway open internationally:
5 participants will each win a copy of this book.
Print/digital format for US residents
Digital for all other residents