Book Review: Hot Paint

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

Hot Paint     Amazon US PB Amazon US HC Amazon Canada PB Amazon Canada HC
Robert S. Levinson
Class/Genre:   Mystery
Series: Neil Gulliver and Stevie Marriner
Forge, August 2002, $26.95, 352 pp.

Newspaper columnist Neil Gulliver and soap opera queen and theatre actress Stevie Marriner were once married. Now that they are divorced they have a much better relationship in every sense of the word. A retired mobster gives Neil and Stevie a suite of eleven Andy Warhol prints, each one containing a painting and the artist who owns it.

Shortly after, the couple is asked to meet an old friend and two of his guests who turn out to be Mossad agents. They tell Stevie and Neil that the Nazis confiscated the paintings from Jews who rightfully owned them. They’re also informed that there was supposed to be a twelfth print but it has gone missing. Some of the people in the paintings are dead and the paintings have disappeared. Neil smells a big story and Stevie wants to be a part of the investigation since she owns half the prints. As usual Neil and Stevie are going against some very dangerous characters who have killed before and have no compunction against killing again.

HOT PAINT, the latest episode in the Neil Gulliver and Stevie Marriner mystery series, is an exciting crime thriller that plays out on many levels. The protagonists steal the show with their offbeat yet genuine relationship and the way they work as a team when the chips are down making this reviewer think there is hope for a reconciliation. Robert R. Levinson has written a strong story that links present day crimes to those committed during World War II.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner