The Hogarth Conspiracy

At the start of Connor’s well-crafted second stand-alone (after 2011’s The Other Rembrandt), set in 1732 London, painter William Hogarth is dismayed by the mutilation murder of one of his models, prostitute Polly Gunnell. Hogarth had the audacity to insert the images of Polly and Frederick, prince of Wales, who was her lover, into a painting of his. Polly’s murder is a warning to Hogarth to stay silent—especially about the bastard son ripped from Polly’s womb. In the present, British art dealer Oliver Peters, who’s dying of cancer, learns that a fellow dealer, a hedonistic Australian, possesses a mysterious lost Hogarth painting. Hogarth’s efforts to save the infant’s life have implications in the present day that threaten all who know of the painting’s existence, including Peters, who hopes the painting can help secure his family’s financial well-being. Convincing characters and a fast-moving plot lift this above the pack of mystery thrillers centered on an old work of art. (Nov.)