Author Description

Product DescriptionEssington Holt, in his second adventure, finds himself caught up in the complexities of Balkan nationalist groups, the French police and the ASIO while investigating the murder of an old Yugoslav lady. His investigations take him from the south of France to Venice and the Australian outback. Robert Wallace is also the author of "Goanna", "Feral Palit" and "To Catch a Forger".From Publishers WeeklyEssington Holt, last seen in To Catch a Forger, is now a wealthy expatriate on the French Riviera who here falls afoul of old and new Eastern European political passions. He and his childhood friend and nemesis, lawyer Gerald (Feathers) Sparrow, uncover an arms cache in their search for whoever sent threatening letters to Oula Strossmayer, an old Yugoslavian woman who has been axed to death in a small Australian town. After Essington is shot and seriously wounded, Feathers admits his involvement with the Australian secret service and an interest that goes far beyond the dead woman. To escape further threats, Essington and his bride return to Sydney, where he obsessively continues to investigate the murder, gaining an unlikely ally in an Aboriginal lawyer he meets as a result of Oula's bequest to the Aboriginal cause--a Raoul Dufy painting hiding documents and photos dating back to the shifting Yugoslavian politics of WW II and its aftermath. After further events affect his marriage, Essington ends up in Venice, stalked by killers anxious to hide old secrets. Readers will welcome the return of Wallace's reserved, yet very likable artist/sleuth as he moves between the sophistication of the Riviera and Sydney and the insularity of an Australian small town.Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.From Library JournalAustralian art expert Essington Holt, who inherited his aunt's Cap Ferrat villa in To Catch a Forger ( LJ 9/1/89), now settles in with new wife Karen. The one wedding guest who attends, Gerald "Feathers" Sparrow, arrives with trouble--the story of an axe murder back in Australia and problems with the victim's estate, which includes a valuable Dufy painting. Once Holt proffers aid, wild events occur--from discovery of a weapons cache and conspiracy by Yugoslavian nationals to attempted murder and skulduggery in France, Australia, and Italy. Lots of action and movement, along with a few new-marriage problems for diversity. Despite a slightly outrageous plot, this is well-focused except for some unraveling near the end.Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.