I’m often asked why I chose art fraud for the crime in Exceeding Expectations and Paradise Misplaced. I can name several excellent reasons.
Art moves and intrigues me. Since childhood, I am awed and envious of what gifted human beings can create. I’m no expert, but like Charlotte (Charlie) I’ve toured museums in virtually every city I’ve ever visited. When I find a work that interests me, I read the artist’s name, date and title of the work on the information cards posted on the wall nearby and try to imagine what influenced the artist to paint that particular work, at that particular time in history and at that particular point in his/her career. Who chose the subject? Was the work commissioned? Did politics of the time play a part? I try to merge the information with what I already know. To me, Picasso’s “Guernica,” painted in 1937, following Germany’s bombing of that peaceful Spanish city, speaks volumes about the artist’s grief and outrage.
I work hard to keep my books surprising, novel, fresh. Art theft is a crime rarely portrayed in fiction. Art fraud is rarer still.
In the real world, crimes involving art richly reward perpetrators. (Think, $,000,000.00) If theft is involved, to save money on claims, many times insurance companies will pay substantial sums to recover the works and agree not to prosecute. In the matter of art fraud, often prestigious art galleries and auction houses are involved and both have considerable interest in protecting their image and deep pockets to do so. Whether theft or fraud, if convicted, sentences are light and the guilty usually serve time in white-collar prisons. If you’re seriously intent on crime for your future career, do your homework. Like other high paying fields, it requires preparation and education.
For more about author Lisa April Smith and her books, visit her website http://www.LisaAprilSmith.com
