Watching Over You by Simon Delaney Hardback Book 9781644284070

An art crime thriller for the agesAlternating between London and Paris in the 1940s the 1960s and the present Watching Over Youamp160explores the provenance of a collection of paintings hidden from the plundering Nazis during World War II and the fate of the families entangled in the search for the lost artworksThe novel touches on the themes of greed and heroism inspired by the stolen works tracing the web of collaborators opportunists and art dealers who exploited the Third Reichs lust for prestigious trophies The hero restaurateur Michel de la Rue walks a financial tightrope while his spendthrift head chef and brother Antoine depletes their strained resources The narrative switches between Michel and Antoines foodie tour of France which is being filmed by a documentary TV crew the machinations of art dealer Alain Deschamps and his pursuersInterpolamp8217s Lorenzo Pieters and the Le Monde journalist Fabian RitzierThe battle between Michel trying to protect his familyamp8217s precious heirloom and Alainamp8217s brutal hunt for the missing paintings results in a relentless chase across the continent