The Black Brook — Tom Drury

A small-time art forger runs afoul of the New England mob in this comic crime novel from the author of The End of Vandalism: “One of our living masters” (McSweeney's).
 
Paul Emmons has his faults -- envy, lust, naiveté, money laundering, and art forgery to name a few. A fallen accountant and scamster, Emmons and his wife, Mary, are exiled abroad, though they enjoy inadvisable returns to New England to check on the property they own but cannot claim.
 
Paul's unfortunate association with Carlo Record, president of the fraudulent company New England Amusements, was always destined to get him into trouble. When Carlo and his cronies -- Ashtray Bob, Line-Item Vito, and Hatpin Henry -- try to coerce Paul into stealing the John Singer Sargent painting “The Black Brook” from the Tate gallery in London, Paul and Mary hatch a plan to trick the tricksters . . .
 
Through it all, Paul searches for his true mission in life in this “irresistibly droll portrayal of an All-American liar, loser, and innocent” (Kirkus Reviews).
 
This Grove edition features a new introduction in the form of a conversation between Drury and Daniel Handler.