A Deceptive Clarity, by Aaron J. Elkins

Retrieved from: DKPL
0802756662, 1987
Suggested by: The List
My Ratings: 8 Merit, 7 Interest, 8 Fun

It is interesting reading an author's earliest works, especially in genre fiction. You can watch as he (or she) develops as an author, fleshing out cardboard characters as he goes, making rounded edges of abrupt plot changes.

This is especially true in this book, in which Elkins introduced a new character, an art historian named Chris Norgren. I didn't read the blurb, so I jumped into Chapter 1 expecting my friend "The Skeleton Doctor" and couldn't figure out why we were in an art museum with a bunch of unknowns. In a mystery, that usually means the reader is getting some inside information about the bad guys. But wait: it also shows a certain level of sophistication I hadn't expected of Elkins at this point. So I caved in and read the blurb.

Having just read the first "Skeleton" mystery recently, I could see some extremely obvious similarities in the two books: Europe, Army base, shubby detective with a great sense of humor, a hero with fighting skills that are outrageously unexpected. The plots are similar too.

But it's a good plot, even if those corners are very rounded yet, and the characters tend to be cardboard figures placed hither and yon for decor. There's a lot of info about art and art history here, and that kept my attention. I didn't know anything about Vermer or El Greco beyond being able to tell them apart (!); I still don't know much, but the details showed that Elkins has promise...which is proven out by the knowledge of his later novels.