A Dangerous Talent, Charlotte Elkins
A Dangerous Talent, Charlotte Elkins
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A Dangerous Talent

Author: Charlotte Elkins, Aaron Elkins

Narrator: Kate Rudd

Unabridged: 7 hr 35 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 05/01/2012

Synopsis

Alix London has a promising career as an art consultant, a sumptuous condo in Seattle’s toniest neighborhood, a gorgeous figure, and a presence that exudes Ivy League breeding and old money. She has it all…or does she? Only Alix knows that the image she presents to the world is a carefully constructed mirage that veils an embarrassing truth. A brilliant, once-promising art student, the daughter of a prominent New York art conservator, her world was left in ruins when her father went to prison for art forgery. Now a Harvard dropout with an emptied bank account, she is languishing in a career that has produced little more than a lucky house-sitting gig. But all of that changes when Alix meets Christine Lemay, a novice art collector with money to burn and a hot tip on a recently discovered painting by American master Georgia O’Keeffe. Chris hires Alix to perform the authentication, an assignment that finally could launch Alix into the big leagues. But soon after her arrival in Santa Fe, she finds herself tangled up in a web of forgery, deceit—and murder. Anxious to avoid becoming the next victim, she teams up with FBI Special Agent Ted Ellesworth—and gets a little unlikely help from her roguish father—to uncover the truth behind the painting and those who would kill to have it. Sharp, witty, and devilishly fun, A Dangerous Talent offers an insider’s look into the surprisingly treacherous contemporary art world.

About Charlotte Elkins

Charlotte Elkins wrote her first novel while working at the MH de Young Museum in San Francisco. Published under the pseudonym Emily Spenser, it was the first of her five romance novels that have sold in twenty countries. She switched to writing mysteries when she realized how much fun it was to collaborate with her husband, Aaron. Their first novel, A Wicked Slice, was published in 1989; since then, they have co-written four more novels starring a golf-pro-turned-sleuth and several short stories, one of which, “Nice Gorilla,” won the Agatha Award for Best Short Story of the year.

About Aaron Elkins

Aaron Elkins’s novels have been published in thirteen languages and made into a major television series. He is the author of sixteen novels featuring forensic anthropologist Gideon Oliver and of three mysteries featuring art museum curator Chris Norgren. He has won an Edgar Award and a Nero Wolfe Award, and he shares an Agatha Award with his wife, Charlotte. Aaron’s nonfiction articles have appeared in the New York Time’s travel magazine, Smithsonian magazine, and Writer’s Digest.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Matt on April 19, 2012

This is a pretty good book. My main problem with it was the stilted writing. It felt amateurish. I had a hard time imagining a person saying things the way these people said things. And everything was explained in detail. If there was ever innuendo in the dialogue, the person would have to explain i......more

Goodreads review by Anastasia on November 19, 2019

A Dangerous Talent by Charlotte and Aaron Elkins is the first book in the Alix London Mystery series. Alix London is trying to overcome the stigma of her fathers art forgery conviction and sets herself up as an art restorer and consultant. She is hired by a wealthy novice art collector to authentica......more

Goodreads review by Mary on May 21, 2020

This is the first book in the Alix London series, and the first Charlotte and Aaron Elkins book that I have read. I enjoyed this, but there were a lot of things going on at the end and I was a little confused as to who did what. Still, it was good and I'll probably read more in this series and maybe......more

Goodreads review by Kathy on November 15, 2020

Since I enjoyed the series by Aaron Elkins featuring the skeleton detective, I am happy to report that this first book in the Alix London series was a pleasant visit to the world of art forgery in the environs of New Mexico with a visit to Ghost Ranch of O'Keefe fame. Our main character Alix has had......more

Goodreads review by Carol on October 06, 2017

A Dangerous Talent by Charlotte & Aaron Elkins Alix London Series Book #1 4 stars Alix London has a promising career as an art consultant, a sumptuous condo in Seattle’s toniest neighborhood, a gorgeous figure, and a presence that exudes Ivy League breeding and old money. She has it all…or does she? On......more

Quotes

“Whenever a new book from the Elkins arrives, I let the cats go hungry and put my own work on hold till I’ve finished it.” ―Elizabeth Peters, author of Crocodile on the Sandbank and The Curse of the Pharaohs

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