Picture Postcard

Matthew Riordan #4

by Frederick D. Huebner

Lisa Thayer, an attractive art dealer, asks Seattle lawyer Matt Riordan to investigate when she recives a hand-painted postcard she is convinced either came from her grandfather, a painter who supposedly died ten years ago, or a very skillful forger

280 pages, Hardcover

First published April 21, 1990

Reviews

[Wendy Stockard · Rating 4 out of 5]

A peek into the art world and its complexities.

[Karla Huebner]

I think I originally bought this book because of the author's name (which is misspelled in different ways on both entries for this book), and I won't say that it stuck in my mind remarkably over the years between first and second readings. However, I can say that of the various mystery novels I've reread since being reunited with all of the books I put in storage during grad school, this is one that holds up well. It's a mystery/thriller set in Seattle in the late 1980s, and it captures aspects of its period without seeming dated in the way that many books its age do. Given that I now know much more about art history than I did when I bought it, I can also say that the author uses his knowledge of 20th-century art deftly, not burdening the reader yet giving us a good sense of how the fictional artists relate to their historical contemporaries.
As is usually the case, the "thriller" aspects were the least interesting for me. In general they seemed to fit in as part of the story, but fortunately they were fairly brief, as I tend to lose interest whenever a book or film starts a car chase or a complicated fight scene. Mentally, that's when I go get popcorn. I realize that's abnormal of me. In any case, this book should satisfy readers who both like and snooze through that kind of action.
Both the author and the detective are lawyers, so it's mildly surprising, but not a fault, that law doesn't play a major role here in the way one sees in books by Lia Matera and Sarah Caudwell. I looked up the author to see if he's continued to write fiction, and while to some extent he has, his legal career seems to have blossomed to an extent that probably keeps him too busy to write many novels. I'd read another if I happened upon one, though.