If I were to sit down and think up a list of all the elements that would make up a perfect book for Kathy, this one would probably match it most closely. "The Last Leonardo" has ALL THE THINGS I love: art, history, and art history; a mystery with centuries worth of clues; thriller pacing; political motivations and shady dealings; complicated characters; fun facts; and so much more!

If this book were triple the size, I wouldn't have complained for a second; frankly, I just never wanted it to end. I did occasionally wish that the timeline didn't jump around so much, but at the same time this structure gave the book the pacing that made it so readable. My only other wish was that instead of being collected at the end, that the images were spread throughout the book in accordance with their mentions. But these are small non-issues in the context of a book I absolutely loved.

I am admittedly biased because I am an art history nerd and the proud recipient of a college degree in the subject, but first of all the plot of "The Last Leonardo" was something a fiction writer wishes they'd come up with—a mysterious painting that could be part of the oeuvre of one of the greatest and least prolific painters in history? Is it real? How can we ever be sure?

I also loved that the book explored broader questions surrounding the art world—what are the limits of conservation and restoration, and how much is too much? What are the ethics of pricing everyday people out of the world's greatest artwork? Is there a way to stop this trajectory? I passionately believe in the importance of making art accessible, and it seems Ben Lewis feels the same; this larger examination of the art world and its future elegantly connected the past with the present, and brought the relevance of art into a mainstream conversation about wealth, privilege, and status. I wish there were 1,000 books like this for me to read, but the fact that there aren't is part of what makes the book, and the art it centers, on so captivating.