Bea Green, Stealing the Spanish Princess (The Conrad Press 2021)
I love novels where, as well as enjoying a good old murder mystery, you get learn all sorts of detail about some subject. Stealing the Spanish Princess takes you into the world of art theft. The titbits of art history and critique pique the interest and stimulate further research. Throw in some Russian mafia, a secret love child and the beautiful architecture of London, Madrid and St Petersburg—what’s not to like?
DCI Richard Langley from Scotland Yard’s Art and Antiquities Unit and his colleagues from Homicide investigate a murder and art theft. The artwork in question is a fictional work by El Greco, hitherto unknown to anyone but its private owner. If no one knew of its existence, who could have stolen it? Positing a fictional artwork is a clever device.
The scenes are well described. One gets an immediate sense of the protagonist’s character, and secondary and minor characters are interesting. The pace is good, and there’s enough action to keep the story moving.
Some details bear more attention to verisimilitude—flowers have been banned from UK hospitals since 2003—would the intermediary with the criminals really be a priest?—police don’t read people Miranda rights when they’re just being questioned, only when they are under arrest–and the most intriguing clue for some reason is not followed up until the final chapters—but it’s a great story.
It’s billed as ‘a Richard Langley mystery’, but we don’t need to have read others in the series. I look forward to the next one.
Susie Helme 
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