Crime-Lite but Fun
Review of the Amazon First Reads Kindle eBook edition (June 1, 2024), released in advance of the official publication by Lake Union Publishing in paperback/eBook & Brilliance Audio audiobook (July 1, 2024)

Buy any old painting from the eighteenth century done by some poor sucker that never made it, strip the paint, cover the canvas with gesso made from boiled rabbit skin, then sand it down, apply white paint, leaded but still available in Europe, and you got yourself an authentic canvas.

I went with my gut selection of Veridian Sterling Fakes It for my June 2024 full-length choice of Amazon Prime First Reads. It was the "Mystery" selection. I liked the cover design with its hint of a Van Gogh painting peeking out (I don't recognize it as being from an actual painting, although the swirls in the sky hint at The Starry Night). The plot synopsis hinted at art crime and art forgery. Sign me up!

So it turned out to be pretty lite on the mystery and crime side, verging into cozy territory really. It was still entertaining for the peek into the world of high end art galleries, dealers and auction houses. The art crime and forgery aspect doesn't come into it until very late. The various trivia about artists and specific paintings and art heists from history displayed a considerable of research, which I found especially interesting to retrace.


Gauguin's painting "The Siesta", which becomes the inspiration for the fictional Van Gogh painting "Girl in Yellow on Beach" used as somewhat of a Macguffin in "Veridian Sterling Fakes It." Image sourced from Wikipedia.

Recent art school graduate Veridian Sterling can't find a gallery to display her work and is forced into taking a gallery assistant job from an ex-rival of her mother, who had also been an art student back in the day. Veridian has a talent for copying the masters, but can't get anyone interested in her original work. Various small mysteries occur, some are not even quite resolved or explained by the end, such as:

Why is Veridian making such large bank deposits for her boss even when the gallery seems to have no sales? What is the interest of the high end art dealer and his handsome and dishy (we are told several times) town car driver who regularly maneuver to meet her? Can Veridian find a way to help fulfill her mother's dreams after learning all that she may have sacrificed in the past to help her daughter? Is anyone ever going to ask her to fake a master's original painting? (Spoiler:

Spoiler

Eventually yes, but it doesn't happen until almost the very end.

).

Most of those questions are answered by the end although it does take a deus ex machina surprise to assist in the resolution. So don't look for any hard and heavy crime & mystery here but a light fun adventure in the art world. A bit of a false advertising accusation may be leveled at the marketing here, but I was still entertained, so 4 stars it is.

Trivia and Links
This is the third novel from Jennifer Hummer. Her earlier books [b:Girl Unmoored|13248799|Girl Unmoored|Jennifer Gooch Hummer|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1329577663l/13248799._SY75_.jpg|18449494] (2012) and [b:Operation Tenley|31863541|Operation Tenley|Jennifer Gooch Hummer|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1473413655l/31863541._SY75_.jpg|45467606] (2016) were YA and Middle Grade Fantasy. Veridian Sterling Fakes It does edge into adult fiction territory esp. with some occasional frank sexual references (e.g. I don't recall ever seeing DILF used in a book before