Assassins' Trail

Claude Brickell is an author of international mystery suspense. His Art Sleuth Mysteries series follows young, likable and accomplished art historian Michael Bennington as he searches the world for lost or stolen art and artifacts that, more often than not, land him in thrilling and provocative, and even erotic encounters, that only Bennington's quirky escapades can do. The following is this installment: When Bennington lands in Paris to give a lecture on the famed Mona Lisa, he is approached by a young curator from the Louvre Museum, Natalie Sherbakova, who invites him to a private meeting with the museum's general director. At the meeting, it is revealed to him that when the Mona Lisa was stolen back in 1911, what was found and returned to the Louvre was simply a copy, a fake. And that copy, unbeknownst to the public, is what has been on display at the museum ever since. Now, recently-discovered Soviet-era documents purport that the original is hidden somewhere in Russia, and it is Bennington's task, along with Sherbakova, to descend into the Russian hinterland, locate and take possession of the masterpiece and bring it back to the museum in total secrecy. This is a world of assassins and FSB (former KGB) suspense, cat and mouse twists and turns and nonstop international intrigue.