The Picasso Scam

Charlie Priest #1

by Stuart Pawson

Detective Inspector Charlie Priest is the kind of officer who likes to get on with the job, though his unorthodox ways have held him at inspector level for a record-breaking length of time. Yet while few other modern detectives will chase a Rolls Royce down a country lane in an ancient Cortina, Priest does get results. When he s not putting crooks behind bars, he s watching out for his team of young constables, only too aware that for them as much as for him the knock about humor of the station is in stark contrast to the dangers they face on the beat. Sheep steeling and shoplifting are everyday crimes in Heckley, but there are local villains with bigger fish to fry. When Charlie suspects a now-respected businessman, with a background of extortion and GBH, of involvement in an international art fraud, he's taking on an enemy with friends in high places. But Charlie can be persistent to the point of recklessness and, once he's realized that there's a link to the lethal doctored heroin that's striking down the local kids, no threat will stop him...

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Crime, Procedural, Detective, Audiobook, Art

256 pages, Paperback

First published March 9, 1995

About the author

Stuart Pawson lived in Fairburn, Yorkshire, with his wife, Doreen.

After a career as a mining electrical engineer, he worked part-time for the probation service for five years, mediating between offenders and their victims. This gave him a good insight into the criminal justice system, and it was during this period that he started to write his first book, The Picasso Scam.

Stuart believed he must have some cowboy genes somewhere in his genome because he always had a strong affinity for the American West. His first visit to the USA was to work for a month at a Wyoming coalmine, and he holidayed over there many times. Although tone-deaf (some would say stone-deaf) he always thought it would be good fun to be a songwriter. The thought of composing a three-minute song as opposed to a 300-page book had a certain attraction. He managed to combine the two themes - song writing and the West - in the opening chapters of Laughing Boy, and he enjoyed writing that one immensely.

Reviews

[Alan Denham · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the first Pawson I read - and it started a habit. I am not sure this is to everyone's taste, since there is not much actual 'detective/mystery' to it, nor much in the way of serious action scenes, it is pretty well pure 'Police Procedural'. However, for someone looking for a good yarn, not too dark but with some nasty people getting a reasonable approximation of what they deserve, and some gentle humour as they go, Pawson is among the best, and this is one of his best.

[Polly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, I’m glad I read book 4 in this series, Last Reminder, first! If I’d read The Picasso Scam first I may not have read another of the D. I. Priest series.
Priest is still getting over his divorce so I think that’s perhaps why we are exposed to way too many of his mental meanderings involving just about every female character - victim, perpetrator, or whoever - he meets along the way. I found it really off putting. That being said, the convoluted plot takes Priest from cliff sides in northern UK to Spain following up a dodgy drug dealer/money launderer called Cakebread. He also has to figure out how to bring down a high level corrupt senior officer without losing his job in the process. Art theft and a Picasso are also involved making for a good range of situations and intrigue.

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tried this first of a series and found I didn't warm up to this DI. It was a light enough read for me but certainly not for Priest who ends up in hospital with some serious damage after his encounters with a couple of bad actors into art scams.

[Bookish_predator · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars

Set in the Midlands, full of my sort of humour AND a police procedural? Yes bloody please!!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book from start to finish and will definitely be picking up the rest of this series. Why has it taken me so long to find DI Charlie Priest? Now j have though I'm not planning on letting him go until I'm bloody ready to and that is not going to happen yet.

[Ravi · Rating 2 out of 5]

I did not get this book.

This was an introduction to the character Charlie someone. I even forget the last name as soon as I closed the book.

It looks more to me that the author just wrote this book to depict how he felt about his life.

The characters were shoddy and the conversations made no sense.

The important parts of the book were in lengthy paragraphs and the humor was terrible.

All in all, this book no sense to me. The villain was the rich dude who was a drug peddler who we know is the villain cause he is rich and peddles drugs. There is no plot and not much logic.

All in all this was a very muddled story of an old man with a mid life crisis.

Conclusion is that this is a read if someone gifts the book to you. It is a waste of money otherwise.

[John Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had just finished reading "Shooting Elvis" , saw this on top of the bookcase , and ploughed straight in.

I like DI Charlie Priest. He is much more of a team player than Morse ever was. He isnt as pompous and bombastic as Andy Dalzell and he is lighter, better organised and on better terms with his superiors than Jack Frost.

This isnt so much of a who-dun-it as the facts are soon established but an enjoyable tale and a 4* from me.

[Anne, Unfinished Woman · Rating 4 out of 5]

SPOILER ALERT

This first installment of the series was surprisingly funny, very funny at times. The author captures the atmosphere and culture of the area beautifully. DI Charlie Priest, who must contend with a widely known, unfaithful ex-wife, nevertheless handles his team skillfully to solve what becomes a progressively more complicated and dangerous case.

In this complex tale is woven a theft of four paintings: Van Gogh, Gaugain, Monet and Picasso. Charlie believes that an international forger is dead. But the switching of forged paintings while on tour, leads him to think perhaps Rudi Truscott did not die. The paintings will be used to purchase the drugs. He also has the dark history with Truscott, who had run off with his wife.

Charlie is a fascinating character who is restoring a jaguar, e type, which he then travels to Spain in to follow the trail of Aubrey Cakebread, head of the drug smuggling. There he will meet another e type owner, who will be killed by an assassin thinking it is Charlie. He is also faced with one top brass member who is bent and sending info to the gang. While investigating and following these criminals, he is falling for the widow of a Bishop, Annabelle Wilberforce.

The complexity of the case also meant a very large cast of characters, particularly the higher ranks, and was confusing at times. But overall, this was an entertaining story.

[Michael Hale · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book I simply couldn’t put down

I decided this year I would start reading more books instead of just listening to them on Audible. I couldn’t have picked a better book to start with. Being from Yorkshire the sense on humour is spot on, can’t wait to read the next book in the series.

[Kirsty Darbyshire]

I've been looking around for this series for a long time. The early books in the series seem to be in permanent out-of-print-ness so I gave up on the idea of collecting them and plumped for the library.

This book introduces to Charlie Priest, DI in the Yorkshire town of Heckley. Heckley is has to be somewhere around here (where here is Huddersfield) but I can't quite pinpoint its fictional roots, I get tied up in references to the A61 to Leeds, the Rochdale Road and the Bradford Road and when a car chase passes B and Q I get all excited. Sad, isn't it.

Two things I liked especially about this book were: firstly, the fact that it takes place over quite a lengthy timespan which makes a change from most detective fiction where cases get wrapped up in a few days and secondly, the fact that the detectives work on a number of cases at the same time that tangle together rather than an all out murder enquiry for instance. I thought these elements made an interesting book really engaging.

I have one of the latest books in this series Chill Factor scheduled for a bookgroup discussion in January so I'm not going to get to read in series order but I am likely to read the whole of this series which comes highly recommended by reading friends of mine.

[Alison Gibson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This entertaining police procedural romp through Yorkshire, for all its serious subject matter, was about as heavy as my Grandma's puddings! The protagonist was likable without visible warts (let alone any dark character flaws other crime series's main cops are driven/plagued by) and even the villains here were of the garden variety. There were numerous truly laugh out loud moments- although perhaps it's only funny to the British or those with deep English roots (after all, not all humour is universal.) Sometimes the dialogue structure was a bit hard to follow but otherwise the story was a fast and fun read and didn't leave me wanting a shower when I was done.

[Cidney · Rating 1 out of 5]

Hmm, am thinking of what to write. I think this was a crime book meaning to be humerous. It failed for me on both claims. The crime was that an art forger, who was a good friend of the detective investigating the crime so knew exactly where to look, took 4 famous paintings and copied them and swopped them for the real thing as they were on the way to the galleries where they were supposed to be shown. Next the forger ended up in ashes inside his burnt down house. Or was he. Next I think the book was meant to be humerous but it failed even on that front for me as I found no humour in it at all, I just found a very irritating police officer whose name I've completely forgotten (I probably don't want to remember it!) and I ended up by skim reading about the last third of the book, I found I was uninterested now in what happened to the original masterpieces or what happened to the irritating police officer who had been tasked with finding out who was the artist, when it was his friend, and what happened to the originals. This series isn't for me I'm afraid. Am assuming it is the first book in a series? Could be wrong? But am really hoping it is!

[Rick Mitchell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like a good cozy mystery every once in a while to break things up so I was happy to see series and its good reviews.

I was ready to trash it after the first 100 pages but I hung in and was very pleased I did. I don't know if it were I or the author who got into a rhythm, but it began to work, both the plot(s) and Charlie Priest. He's a bit of a hero, but we all need one. At the end, my only criticism was the size of the supporting cast. There were so many and only one (Mad Maggie) was distinguishable from the others.

This is a positive police procedural if that is possible. There is no antagonism with superior officers or in the police station. Everyone is rooting for each other and getting the jobs done.

This series is now definitely now on my go to list. One caution for the reader going in. There is no central plot line - it is like a real police station where everyone is working on multiple cases.

[Coco · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5* A Clever and well written plot

This is the first book I've read by Stuart Pawson, it was a welcome change from novels featuring modern police investigations that were solved in hours using the most advanced technology with limitless resources.

The Picasso Scam was written in the 90s but could easily be set in an earlier decade. DI Charles Priest is an efficient and well liked boss, he frequently conducts his own inquiries – often employing unorthodox practices. From the beginning of the book the reader knows the identity of the villain, it's up to Charlie to gather enough evidence for a successful criminal prosecution.

Charlie Priest's droll sense of humour continues throughout the book, sadly this might not be understood by non British readers. Compared with today's police dramas this could be regarded as old fashioned, I found it better than expected and intend reading more from this author.

[Chris Payne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't do book reviews

I don't do book reviews like you keep seeing, as I find that some give too much of the plot away and I personally hate that, as it makes the book not worth reading. I much prefer to take the authors back cover write up as a review as it can either intrigue you enough to read the book of provide you enough information to make you decide that the book is not for you.
My review rules are: The more stars, the more I liked it.
If there are too many typos or errors the less stars I give
If the storyline or plot is poor or contains too many errors, the characters are too weak, the ending lacking something, then the less stars I give.
Simple, uncomplicated and to the point without giving anything away.
Some of the books I read have been given to me by the author as a pre-release copy and this does not bias my reviews in any way.

[Eugene · Rating 3 out of 5]

A reasonable first effort, if a bit facile. DI Charlie Priest is a likeable protagonist, the Yorkshire setting attractive. Here Priest suspects a now respectable businessman of still being involved in his shady past, and even venturing into art fraud and drug dealing. Charlie’s investigative style is a bit too “Wild West” to call this a police procedural, but that is its genre. A bit more depth to the tale would have helped immensely, perhaps as the series progresses so too will that. Pawson wrote some dozen of these before he passed away, so we shall see.

[Doug Ward · Rating 4 out of 5]

DI Charlie Priest of the Heckley police has plenty of crimes to keep him busy; many are related to the drug trade. A few are more exotic, like an art fraud case that involves high-quality copies of famous paintings being switched for the originals, along with possible arson and murder. In between other day-to-day activities, Priest manages to work on this case, eventually putting his life at risk.

Priest relates the events of his life with a delightful sense of humor. I much enjoyed this aspect of the story.

[Barbara Deeprose · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Good Read

A detective with a sense of humour seems to be a rarity in most detective books and I really enjoyed this one. DI Charlie Priest is quite laid back, not much normally happens in his part of Yorkshire but then he hears about some famous paintings touring around England but some of them are fakes. The artist is Charlie's old art teacher who is then found dead in a fire at his home. Charlie is not convinced it was the art teacher's body found in the fire and starts his own investigation. A serious subject but with plenty of humour this was a good read.

[Jean Walton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Life is not easy for Charlie Priest but he does have a supportive boss above him and a good team below him and he's determined the villains aren't going to win including a high level rogue cop in the force. The sadness of things like drug addiction and people getting shot are balanced out by the humour in the tales too and the camaraderie with his team. This is the first book in a different type of murder tale and I'll definitely be on the look out for more.

[Amanda Meggs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Humour and a great mystery

Very well written characters, Charlie Priest's humour is dotted through the novel giving a light twist to it. I enjoyed it very much. The crimes were not solved in a twinkling, and other crimes impinged on Charlie's time. The author also included other police areas and that different departments do jobs that detectives don't do, which made it seem more realistic.

[PIETER · Rating 4 out of 5]

This mystery is not at all bad, not my favorite by far, but it has good points. Charlie's sense of humour is sharp and the characters in his life are strange and varied. The technology of 1995 does not represent police work of today but the human intuition and ways of thinking through a case haven't changed much. This is a story about an art heist heavily mixed with a large illegal drug business. I think it's worth the read.

[Vivian · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun read.

Quite the adventure contained in this book. From England to Spain to NYC and back. The book was made longer by including a lot of descriptive treks that Charlie took. The author included so many hilarious quotes and thoughts that Charlie came up with. He was quite the character. I was expecting the whole story to be about art but in the end, the art was almost more a sideline to the other crime.

[Nicholas Turner · Rating 4 out of 5]

As per the disclaimer at the very start of the book, this book was originally written in the 1990s and does reflect some of the political incorrectness of that time so you should bear this in mind before reading this book.

I found it enjoyable, with plenty of soft northern comedy as a Yorkshire detective with a keen eye for the opposite sex becomes embroiled in a complex case encompassing fraud, drugs and various other crimes.

[Peter · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first in a series of stories about Charlie Priest. This is a ' book to read on the beach ' Nothing taxing, not riveting but it is enjoyable. Now that I have finished it I am still unsure if it had a central story line as opposed to just a load of random events. But I was interested enough to think about trying another in the series..just to see if things change and improve

[Ashley Sanchez · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great concept and interesting storyline but a bit tough to read and follow. Possibly because of the country differences. It wasn’t a smooth read and I often found myself having to re read to remind myself what was happening. There was a bit of jumping around that also made it tough to follow at times.

[Shari · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not sure ...

I had moments of liking this book and others wondering why I was wasting my time. I found it difficult to keep up with who was who. And Charlie is still an enigma to me. Is he likable, is he not? But I'll take the advice of some others and give it one more try because I'm in need of a new series.

[Eirlys · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good read.

I enjoyed the way that D.I. Charlie Priest investigated his cases. He wasn't greedy and let his junior colleagues share in the work as well as the glory. The characters were well constructed and interacted in just the right way that kept up the suspense and intrigue.

[Keith Southgate · Rating 5 out of 5]

Charlie Priest is a D I that makes you addictive

D I priest is a crossover between an old fashioned detective and one that operates on the cutting edge of the law.
An intriguing plot that will draw you in and keep you captivated. Multiple tendrils and different aspects of crime that eventually all link up.
Very enjoyable.

[John Barberio · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very much old style police investigation

Inspector Priest is a British police officer. It details his day to day work solving various crimes. Though the strand running thru this is his desire to nail a local criminal, Cakebread, for range of crimes. Along the way, he finds out about art forgeries including a Picasso. Worth reading but not for everyone.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ok

Enjoyable read. The warning about language at the beginning I think refers to the fact he has a similar way of referring to women as a 1970 / 80s detective. A man who likes fast cars fast women who like fast cars and fast men. But theres no pointless sex or anything really offensive . Just a police story about drugs and crime .

[Andrea Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like DI Charlie Priest and that’s a good start for this book to lead onto more from this author. Cakebread is a local criminal who has friends in high places so when a high stake robbery is perpetuated catching him and his accomplices is a tricky business.