The Alternative Detective

The Chris Norgren Mysteries #3

by Robert Sheckley

In The Alternative Detective Sheckley once again creates a mystery with a comic heart. Hob Draconian, the Alternative Detective, is, in the tradition of Roger L. Simon's The Big Fix, an aging ex-hippie turned private investigator. Still suffering from the culture shock of returning to an America he never made, with a predatory ex-wife on his back and no prospects for work, Hob is wallowing in depression when his nephew brings him a new case. Five surfboards have gone missing on the island of Ibiza. Not the usual sort of case - but The Alternative Detective Agency isn't the usual sort of investigative firm. Draconian's international "staff, " mostly friends from Hob's hippie days, are spread all over Europe - including Ibiza. Hob's not in Europe long before he's got another case, this one more personal. A woman brings the news that an old buddy of his has disappeared in Paris. Accompanied by the attractive - and attentive - woman, Draconian journeys to Paris to search for Alex. This is no simple missing persons job - people are threatening Hob, and pointing guns at him, and generally making it clear that he's in way over his head. Hob Draconian has stumbled onto a real case, with real criminals. Organized crime, international drug trafficking, and Hob's version of the alternative lifestyle are not a good mix, but he's in too deep to get out.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Art, Humor, Ebooks, Art History, Detective

223 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 1, 1993

About the author

One of science fiction's great humorists, Sheckley was a prolific short story writer beginning in 1952 with titles including "Specialist", "Pilgrimage to Earth", "Warm", "The Prize of Peril", and "Seventh Victim", collected in volumes from Untouched by Human Hands (1954) to Is That What People Do? (1984) and a five-volume set of Collected Stories (1991). His first novel, Immortality, Inc. (1958), was followed by The Status Civilization (1960), Journey Beyond Tomorrow (1962), Mindswap (1966), and several others. Sheckley served as fiction editor for Omni magazine from January 1980 through September 1981, and was named Author Emeritus by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 2001.

Reviews

[Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of these days I am going to find a good theme book that can balance the theme and the mystery. It's going to happen, really, but not with Old Scores.

Don't get me wrong; this book is fantastic if you want to learn about art history or know about art history, and that's why I gave it three stars and not two. I like art crimes and studying them, as I think there are a lot of good moral questions brought up when it comes to the ownership of old paintings and museums. This book does a great job of delving into those questions and making the reader think about what exactly is happening in the art world of this fictional market.

The problem is that this is a murder mystery, or rather, the murder mystery is peppered in here and there with only mentioning it occasionally. The mystery is solved in a matter of minutes after a long and drawn out "investigation" by Chris Norgren, the protagonist. He just really investigates a supposed Rembrandt painting and then somehow figures out the murderer. This is also a style that I don't like, since we find out how he knew in the last chapters instead of getting clues throughout the book.

By the end of this book, I was just ready for it to be over. I think Elkins failed to weave the murder mystery in with the art mystery, and cutting one or the other to make it a non murder cozy mystery would have done wonders for the plot and my personal engagement. The random, angst ridden relationship also muddled things up for me, although I liked that Ann was as confused as I was in the end.

[Jennifer S. Alderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clever art history mystery about forgeries, the worth and perception of art, and what some will do to 'make it' in the art world.

[Nancy C · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite the longest and most dragged out explanatory conversation at the end of the book, the art fake/forgery information was great. Many points worth pondering.

[Nancy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am a fan of Aaron Elkins and was looking forward to reading my first Chris Norgren mystery. I was interested in the subject matter: any mystery that tangles with art and scholarship has immediate appeal to me. BUT, this book did not meet my expectations of being entertaining.

Elkins spend an inordinate about of time educating his readers on art history, but it felt like filler, not an integral part of the story. Chris Norgren is an engaging character and I loved his "French adventure" trip---but, the book just went on and on and on for me. Disappointing overall.

[Pat · Rating 4 out of 5]

The answer just popped up at the end.

But I like the protagonist and friends, I enjoy the writing and plotting so -ok. I did wonder where everyone else was at the denouement.

[Gail Sacharski · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Aaron Elkins books, my very favorite being the Gideon Oliver series, but I do enjoy his Chris Norgren books, too, since I have a strong interest in art. Norgren works for the Seattle Art Museum & they've just been gifted a newly-discovered Rembrandt . . . but there are strings attached. Chris must fly to Dijon to attend the Grand Exhibition at the Galerie Vachey where the Rembrandt, as yet unseen by anyone, will be revealed along with another gift painting by Leger going to a French museum. The Rembrandt was found in a Paris junk shoppe & there is a question of its authenticity, but Chris must decide whether to accept or refuse it within a couple days by visual inspection only--no physical testing may be done on it. Since the galerie owner has been known to pull off art pranks in the past to make a point, Chris is suspicious of the restrictions placed upon the gift. Has Vachey got another trick up his sleeve that will eventually embarrass Chris' reputation & the Seattle Art Museum? And this trip comes at an inconvenient time--Chris' girlfriend, in the military & posted in Europe, is arriving in Seattle for a conference to be followed by a few days spent together--but now, just as she's arriving from Europe, he has to depart for France. Hoping to be able to get in, make his assessment & accept or refuse the painting, then get home as soon as possible, Chris discovers that may not be possible as complications start popping up--someone else is making a claim on the painting which harkens back to Vachey's art dealings during WWII when the Nazis were confiscating art from Jewish families, & Vachey's former lover is making a spectacle of herself at the exhibition about a painting he promised her. Amongst her drunken ramblings, Chris learns there's a secret scrapbook in which Vachey has kept a record of all his acquisitions & their provenance. Hoping to learn about the promised Rembrandt, Chris steals into Vachey's study to take a peek into the scrapbook but, before he can learn anything, someone pushes him out the second-story study window. And then there's a murder. What is going on? Is this all to do with the Rembrandt, Vachey's wartime dealings, or is there another reason yet unknown? And will Chris ever get back to Seattle in time to see Anne? This one kept me guessing up to the end. An enjoyable book.

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really great series, and the character development is wonderful. They are consistent from book to book, just strange enough to be realistic (without any special characteristics that make them essential to the story), and interesting enough that you enjoy meeting them again in later books.

The story lines are good - just twisty enough that it leaves you wondering, but at the same time reasonable enough to be completely believable. There are things that seem to be incredibly important that turn out to be just people being people. So why only four stars? The physical assaults should be doing way more damage to the victims than they actually do. That bothers me.

I'm honestly sorry that there aren't more books in the series; I'd love to read them.

[Heidi Agner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another good murder mystery by Aaron Elkins in and around the art world.

This is the the fourth series by Aaron Elkins that i have read. I enjoyed this Chris Norgren series as much as the other three. I like reading a good mystery while learning about a profession that I had known nothing. In this case Art authentication: determining what is a three master's work and what is fake.

Northern gets himself involved in a murder investigation that involves an art broker and is death while trying to ascertain whether a painting that has been offered to Chris's museum is truly a Rembrandt or a hoax set up by the dead broker as aprsnk. Wondering he as known to do in the past.

[RC Prentice · Rating 4 out of 5]

Did someone say that Elkins is at his best writing about the Skeleton Detective? Well, he’s not too shabby when writing about art quests and forgeries, either. The old scores go back to WWII and the Nazis’ confiscation of works of art. This is not the only Elkins book with this theme, but it gets done better here than it does in some of the others, although the plot elements are very similar. The romp through France is, as in other peripatetic Elkins novels, enchanting, entertaining, well informed with a “you-are-there” closeness.

[Maureen Doyle · Rating 3 out of 5]

good mystery, good writing style

I did a little research when I came across a word that made me uncomfortable. After using google a little, I realized that when this was written, in 1993, the word was okay, but is now considered as an antisemitic slur.

Other than that, this is an intricate mystery, with strands woven together through the decades. Descriptions of Dijon and Paris were beautiful.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Again, I enjoy the theme of art forgeries. Also like Chris Norgren who has to decide whether he can trust his judgement as to whether a Rembrandt is for real--or a shady art dealer's trick gift. Plot involves the Nazi confiscation of art works as well. I'll have to check to see if there is a #4!

[A G A VAN DEN BOS · Rating 4 out of 5]

A considerable improvement on the previous book of the Chris Norgren series. Contains a welcome return of educative elucidations and sesquipedalian language. However the style bibliophiles of the author have become accustomed to, frequently appears to have been incongruously intercalated. Perhaps as an appeasement of bibliomaniac expectance. It also feels as though the conveyance of this particular apologue was inordinately elongated.

[Nancy H · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good mystery for art lovers. The plot sees Chris Norgren traveling to Dijon, France, to evaluate a painting that might be an original, and might not. It is being donated to his museum, but there are several stipulations that indicate not all is honest and above board. There is a murder and also definitely a surprise ending.

[Sallie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The beginning was so much like the last book in the series, I began to think I'd all ready read this one, but it finally moved on so I finished the book. Ok, but not my favorite of his series, I think I still prefer the Gideon Oliver series more.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as Elkins' A Glancing Light, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I like his writing style - he injects a lot of self-deprecating humor into the stories. This one fell apart when it neared the end. It got way too complicated and hard to follow or to believe the characters' motivations.

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent story

Very clever venture into the world of art dealers. I never saw the twist coming at the end. Well written and with well drawn characters. I cant wat to read more by this author.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

And OK mystery but I prefer the Gideon Oliver series.

[Priscilla · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty cute, I have to say. A fun read and a nicely twisted story. I enjoyed this.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun series. Enjoy the art history and the descriptions of the cities in Europe.

[Maureen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was very good...great characters, the art experts, not too many that you couldn’t keep them straight...good ending, great setting..

[rebecca O. webber · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun Read

While each Norgren book is similar to the last book, this was just a bit of fun brain candy and an easy read.

[Susan]

Loved it

[Marlo Faulkner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Elkins scores again

A great romp through the world of forgeries and fakes in the beautiful city of Dijon and Paris.
What could go wrong?

[SteveRv · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was an ok read although I found myself skimming in the third part of the book

[Judy · Rating 3 out of 5]

OK if you like art history

Is it real or is it fake? Art historian Chris Norgren travels to Paris to find out if a Rembrandt being donated to his museum is authentic or not? And helps solve a murder in his spare time.

[Curtis Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 star. Had an entertainingly laid back start but then went big and twisty in some entertaining ways but lost its roots in the process.

[FictionForesight · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review Originally Posted At: FictionForesight

Step inside this artfully created world where the paintings, and the mysteries they hold, are to die for!

Rene Vachey likes to make big statements in the art world, which usually involves making art experts and museums look like fools. So when he announces two previously undiscovered paintings by Rembrandt and Leger, the Seattle Museum of Art sends Chris Norgern to see the exhibition, in Dijon France, and decide if they are real or fake. Everything becomes rocky when Norgern is pushed out of a two-story window and Vachey is discovered dead in a park days after the exhibition opens, leaving even more questions as to what Vachey had planned this time.

Theme books can be really hard to pull off well. Unfortunately, this is a theme book that has been lost in the world of art history, with only a dash of the murder mystery that I craved. The art history section however, isn't bad at all. In fact, I actually really liked it. I was looking for a book that dealt with the idea of ownership in the art world, and that's exactly what I got.

While Elkins does fail to properly blend the two main mysteries together, the art mystery definitely outshines the murder. We get many different viewpoints on what is acceptable in the world of art, in regards to buying and selling. Especially since it is set in a time where the Nazi collection and redistribution of artwork is still on the minds of every collector. It was very interesting to see how Vachey played a role in the war, as he had been an art dealer during that time period. The downside to this is that there is yet another sub plot, which distracts from the two existing plots, and is too neatly finished with such an easily created coincidence.

The murder mystery itself was for the most part ignored. Vachey is murdered, and then they jump straight into a reading of the will, with some minor hints at ideas of who could have killed him. These include a son who was bitter about the entire collection of paintings being donated, instead of passing on to him, as originally intended, in the event of Vachey's death. Norgern attempts to research the Rembrandt, which was going to be donated upon his acceptance of its authenticity, however he cannot run any tests on the painting, and instead has to identify it on sight. Everyone he talks to has some distrust of Vachey, but very few had any reason to kill him. Besides the fact there really is no attempt by Norgern to solve the murder mystery.

The only other thing that really didn't sit well with me was the long distance relationship he had with Ann. Apparently they were going to have a week together, which happens rarely, and throughout the entire book he mopes about it. It doesn't add very much to the plot, and really gets a little tiring. In fact, it wasn't until the end that she was even useful as a character, and then it was only as a soundboard for how he knew how everything happened.

This is definitely a good book if you want something a little different. Since the main focus is on the art mystery and not a murder, I think it is a nice change of pace. It excels in talking about the art world and explaining some terms and viewpoints for someone who is new to the topic. The actual murder mystery is sparse, so I would err on the side of caution if you are looking for a juicy murder mystery.

(www.FictionForesight.com)

[Ken · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good read, and good fun. This is the third, and apparently the last (dated 1993) of Elkins' stories about Chris Norgren, and art expert and inadvertent detective. I wish Elkins had kept them up. I liked all of them, and this the best. Elkins handles the art world with expertise, and its ins and outs are essential to the story--it's not just interesting color. He does the same for the local background (Dijon and Paris), and the historical background, and comes up with an intricate, challenging, and coherent mystery that presents one possible interpretation after another, and a satisfying, but not simple, resolution.

I particularly like the complexity and contradictory impressions Elkins plays with and integrates into the story. In the hands of a "serious" novelist (absit omen), these would have been pointlessly bloated and, pointlessly, made into a dreary and ever-present motif. Elkins treats them more lightly as literary elements, though by no means lightly as intellectual or moral considerations. This is more believable than the "serious" approach, corresponding to the way such things intrude (as they constantly do) into normal life, whose day-to-day concerns must be attended to nonetheless. It is also less offensive and more mature--Elkins does not need to use the tactics of an in-your-face enthusiast to get his point across.

Elkins does this sort of thing to one degree or another in a number of his books, which is one of many reasons I enjoy them.

[Nancy]

It's a headline-making story: the discovery of a previously unknown Rembrandt. René Vachey, the iconoclastic art dealer who claims to have uncovered it, wants to make a gift of it to the Seattle Art Museum, but curator Chris Norgren is wary. Vachey is notorious in art circles for perpetrating scandalous shams; not for profit but for the sheer fun of embarrassing the elite and snobbish "experts" of the art establishment. And thanks to the web of strings attached to Vachey's donation (e.g., no scientific testing permitted), even Rembrandt expert Chris is uncertain as to whether or not the painting is authentic.

His doubts multiply when he goes to Dijon to examine it, and finds himself in the middle of a host of controversies of which Vachey is the devilish focus. But there's no doubt that the bullet soon found in Vachey's head is authentic. And there's no telling how much time Chris has to find the truth about the "masterpiece"—and the murder—before he finds himself painted into a corner by a shrewd and villainous murderer.

Rene Vachey was killed by the expert who authenticated a painting. The painting was painted by Vachey.

[James Fearn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is really quite interesting to me. It delves into the world of art, particularly painting and painters. Most of the book is set in France so some knowledge of french culture, France and the french language is helpful but not entirely necessary. Easy to read and a good proportion of verbosity; it is similar to Mr. Goldsborough's writings. Won the '93 Nero Award.

Chris Norgren acts as a procurement director at the Seattle Art Museum. He is given the opportunity to pick up a Rembrandt as a donation from a shady art dealer in France. He cannot use any scientific methods in order to determine the authenticity of the painting. Mr. Norgren travels to France and the adventure ensues.