- Welcome to FictionDB, Guest
- | My Account
- | Help
The Gloved Saskia — William Colt MacDonald
Whit Traxler might have been called an antique dealer. But Whit only dealt in antiques that really interested him -- and only when it pleased him.
The Auction Atelier of Kyle Dormer & Son was one of his favorite places. Not only were the Dormers honest and agreeable people to deal with, but at their place one saw a cross-section of society -- people with their emotions bared. Now Dormer & Son had something that interested Whit -- he wasn't sure, of course, but it looked remarkably like a Rembrant -- Rembrant's Gloved Saskia, he called it. It was a painting of Rembrant's wife, Saskia, and in the lower corner could be glimpsed a gloved hand. The picture was boxed and behind a dusty glass, but Whit coveted Saskia. And so did a lot of other people.
If the girl in the green suit, the girl with the burnished-copper hair, the green-hazel eyes, and the long, slim legs, hadn't been interested in his Saskia, Whit could easily have been interested in her, for she was altogether lovely.
Pamela Luyster, a faded blonde, and an antique dealer in nearby Nefrita Beach, was also interested -- but her interest, it seemed to Whit, was not so deep or so personal as that of the girl in green.
Amos Kane, etcher and engraver, and now a bit down on his luck, was vitally interested -- in fact, Whit knew that Rexford Purdy, of the Purdy Galleries in Nefrita Beach, had sent Kane there to bid on the painting.
And there were several dealers who were interested in the painting, but who wanted Dormer to remove the glass, which he refused to do.
There were others at the auction who interested Whit, although they showed no interest whatsoever of his Saskia.
Blue-jowled Ownie Rattigan, a carpenter by trade, was not a man that Whit would have thought interested in antiques. But Rattigan had expressed an interest in guns -- and Dormer had a collection of those.
There was a sleek-looking dark man with a pulled-down fedora, who impressed Whit as a typical underworld figure as seen in the movies.
And there were three shady-looking characters lounging against a wall -- men who, Whit decides, could be the dark man's henchmen.
When an antiques dealer decides that he will go to any lengths to get a painting, it can lead to murder. And in The Gloved Saskia the first murder is only the beginning. Excitement sizzles as the redoubtable and dapper Bray Ruskin of Homicide enters the picture, and mounts steadily to the climax of a thrilling and unusual murder mystery.
The Auction Atelier of Kyle Dormer & Son was one of his favorite places. Not only were the Dormers honest and agreeable people to deal with, but at their place one saw a cross-section of society -- people with their emotions bared. Now Dormer & Son had something that interested Whit -- he wasn't sure, of course, but it looked remarkably like a Rembrant -- Rembrant's Gloved Saskia, he called it. It was a painting of Rembrant's wife, Saskia, and in the lower corner could be glimpsed a gloved hand. The picture was boxed and behind a dusty glass, but Whit coveted Saskia. And so did a lot of other people.
If the girl in the green suit, the girl with the burnished-copper hair, the green-hazel eyes, and the long, slim legs, hadn't been interested in his Saskia, Whit could easily have been interested in her, for she was altogether lovely.
Pamela Luyster, a faded blonde, and an antique dealer in nearby Nefrita Beach, was also interested -- but her interest, it seemed to Whit, was not so deep or so personal as that of the girl in green.
Amos Kane, etcher and engraver, and now a bit down on his luck, was vitally interested -- in fact, Whit knew that Rexford Purdy, of the Purdy Galleries in Nefrita Beach, had sent Kane there to bid on the painting.
And there were several dealers who were interested in the painting, but who wanted Dormer to remove the glass, which he refused to do.
There were others at the auction who interested Whit, although they showed no interest whatsoever of his Saskia.
Blue-jowled Ownie Rattigan, a carpenter by trade, was not a man that Whit would have thought interested in antiques. But Rattigan had expressed an interest in guns -- and Dormer had a collection of those.
There was a sleek-looking dark man with a pulled-down fedora, who impressed Whit as a typical underworld figure as seen in the movies.
And there were three shady-looking characters lounging against a wall -- men who, Whit decides, could be the dark man's henchmen.
When an antiques dealer decides that he will go to any lengths to get a painting, it can lead to murder. And in The Gloved Saskia the first murder is only the beginning. Excitement sizzles as the redoubtable and dapper Bray Ruskin of Homicide enters the picture, and mounts steadily to the climax of a thrilling and unusual murder mystery.
Click on any of the links above to see more books like this one.