Man with a Squirrel

Fred Taylor Art Mystery #2

by Nicholas Kilmer

Cambridge art expert Fred Taylor, consultant to a rich and omnivorous Beacon Hill collector, is disturbed by discovering that the harmless old gent who'd been haunting Fred's strongminded lover, librarian Molly Riley, lies dead on the banks of the Charles. Soon Fred's distracted by a second find, a fragment of a painting. It lies in antique dealer Oona Imry's shop. Fred feels in his gut that the piece of canvas, handsomely portraying a squirrel at a man's feet, might be by John Singleton Copley. His boss, Clayton Reed, charms Oona into selling him the squirrel, then sends legman Fred out to look for the rest of the painting. A new fragment shortly arrives from the hands of Oona 's nephew, gratis, after Oona dies under a train. Are the canvases tied to her murder and that of Molly's stalker? Is Fred on some kind of killer treasure hunt? Art dealer and painter Kilmer delights in mirroring contemporary crimes with well-researched and compelling use of history. Erudite and witty, he keeps the reader's unflagging interest through a combination of clever puzzle construction and deft narrative understatement.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Mystery Thriller

240 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1996

About the author

Teacher of art and Latin in Vienna, VA, 1960-62; Action for Boston Community Development, Boston, MA, writer in department of planning and evaluation, 1966-67; English teacher at private school in Beverly, MA, 1967-70; Swain School of Design, New Bedford, MA, associate professor of liberal arts, 1970-82, dean, 1979-82; affiliated with Art Research of Cambridge, Cambridge, MA, 1984-88; founder of Nicholas Kilmer Fine Art, 1988—. Painter, with exhibitions throughout the Northeast.

Reviews

[LJ · Rating 3 out of 5]

MAN WITH A SQUIRREL (Amateur Sleuth/Art Expert-Boston-Cont) – G
Kilmer, Nicholas – 2nd in series
Poisoned Pen Press, 1996- Trade paperback
An antiques dealer, Oona, sells art Expert Fred Taylor a painting which, when removed it from it’s frame, looks to be a portion of a painting by Jon Singleton Copley, a well-known 18th century artist. Days later, Fred learns that Oona is dead but has left another segment of the painting for him. Fred’s lover, librarian Molly Riley, had been stalked by a man who has turned up dead and has been asked to look into Dr. Eunice Cover-Hoover, a professor who claims to be helping people with repressed memories. These two elements appear to be tied together and it’s up to Fred to find out how.
*** Kilmer has a very interesting style. There is humor in his turn of phrase, but you pay attention or you might miss it. While the first book might have given me a greater history of the characters, Kilmer did fill that in as the story progressed. The dialogue is well done; the sense of place could have been stronger. I did enjoy the book; it did keep me reading and it did have an excellent climatic scene. Although it isn’t a “wow” book for me, I enjoyed it and would read another book by Kilmer.

[Jill Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Man with a Squirrel. (Fred Taylor Art Mystery Series, Book 2) 8.05 hrs. Nicholas Kilmer, Narrated by Patrick Cullen. Fred Taylor buys a partial painting from local antique dealer, Oona. The painting is the image of a squirrel on a chain and a man’s foot, which he discovers has been cut from a larger canvas. But why? Believing it to be the work of an important eighteenth-century American master, he snaps up the fragment. Then he sets out to find the remainder of the painting and its origins. Fred's quest crosses and ultimately blocks the path of Dr. Eunice Cover-Hoover, whose specialty is deprogramming former members of satanic cults. Two murders, and other forms of violence occur to hide the rest of the painting and the meaning behind it. 8 Stars. (6.17 to 7.1.18 )

[Debby · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an audio book. Very eccentric characters and the dialogue was esoteric sometimes. This was a murder mystery, a most unusual story. Very different. Might read more from this author.

[Mark Stangroome · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is, at least in my opinion, disorganised as well as being full of irrelevancies and stereotypes. The plot line is often fanciful and not in a good way and none of the characters come across as being either likable or totally believable.

The plot line revolves around an important painting that is arriving piecemeal to an antiques shop run by a Hungarian immigrant. The first piece is brought to the attention of 'our hero' who is an art collector working for a prominent industrialist. Said art collector has a beau who somehow gets involved via a 'stalker' who ends up dead as does the antiques shop owner. A mysterious woman running what amounts to a cult is thought responsible for both the deaths and the pieces of artwork. With me so far? No? Probably best for your sanity.

The art collector has a nephew, also Hungarian and the author decides to make him as stereotypical as possible. Hungarian = speaks funny. Tick. Hungarian = mistrusts all authority anywhere in the world. Tick. Hungarian = loves classical music. Tick. Loves classical music = pianist. Tick. Pianist = Gay in a odd way. Tick.

Added to this is an incident when our hero the art collector becomes Superman and is able to knock unconscious and break the elbows of a much larger assailant in the space of a few lines.

Altogether not a good book, not even decent escapism.

[Sjfstudio · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting idea - liked the John Singleton Copley references.