The Scottish Colourist — Allan Jones

The Scottish Colourist. The second Catrin Sayer mystery.

A retired Episcopal clergyman collapses in the Kelvingrove Museum in Glasgow, right in front of the crucifixion painting by Salvador Dali called the ‘Christ of Saint John of the Cross'. It is thought to be a heart attack until the angina medication he took at the time is discovered to be a placebo; it was totally ineffective. Meanwhile, a drug baron in Glasgow searches out the services of a friend of his late father, a man with prior convictions for art forgery;he has a job for him.

Detective Constable Catrin Sayer is now nearly a year into her assignment with the Art Crime Unit at New Scotland Yard. The journey north to Glasgow on a new case is tied to both the death of the clergyman and a rumour of theft or fraud associated with paintings by a group of artists known as ‘The Scottish Colourists'. Investigations lead towards a current drug gang operation and, for Catrin, to romance and danger. She is to learn that a moment's decision can lead to longer-term consequences both for her and the relationship between the Scottish legal system and the Metropolitan Police Service.

This is the second Catrin Sayer full-length novel of art-related mysteries. Sayer is ambitious and trying to balance her work as a police officer with her other interests as an artist. And being single and unattached is also playing on her mind…