Little Follies: A Mystery Novel

 Little Follies by Carolyn Korsmeyer was  a mystery novel given to me by publicist Wiley Saichek.  He has so far given me two dozen books that I've reviewed on this blog.

I decided to accept the copy for review because Korsmeyer deals with interesting issues in her non-fiction.  So I thought that her fiction could also be worth reading.

                                  

 

Krakow, Poland is the setting of this book.  There are many actual locations in Krakow in the novel, but there is no Radincki Museum and the Radincki aren't a real noble family.

The Polish hero and military engineer Kosciuszko doesn't appear in this book, but a diary belonging to a fictional friend of Kosciuszko named Andrzej Gorski plays an important role.

A stolen painting in this novel attributed to Leonardo Da Vinci may or may not be his work.  There is an actual painting with the same title, Salvator Mundi, that was authenticated as Da Vinci's and was sold at auction for $450 million. 

 In Little Follies the  Da Vinci attributed painting called Salvator Mundi was stolen from the fictional Radincki Museum and a security guard died.  The death of the security guard appeared to be an accident.

 The authentication situation in this book seemed clear as mud to me, but then it occurred to me that all Da Vinci paintings were created in a workshop context where other painters contributed to the work.  No one found this problematic at the time.

 There is a reference in this book to Cecilia Gallerani , whose portrait was painted by Da Vinci in The Lady With An Ermine ,  as having been Polish. This didn't seem likely to me.  So I looked her up and found that she was indeed Italian, not Polish.

There is someone referred to as Saint Gertruda in this book.  I thought it likely that she is Gertruda of Poland who was never made a saint.  She is considered by many to have been the first Polish born writer.  She is also known for commissioning an illustrated prayer book and saving a monastery from destruction. 

The most suspenseful part of the book involved returning a manuscript to the museum which was never allowed to be removed from the premises.  Adam, the research scholar who had broken the rules,  wanted no one to know he had taken the item from the museum. So it had to be returned secretly.   I was amazed by the risks that were taken in order to accomplish this goal.   

There was a story associated with a stolen silver chalice at the Radincki Museum.   It brought a supernatural element into this novel.   Readers who don't believe in the supernatural aren't likely to be impressed.

So the theft of the silver chalice was a whydunit and the death of the security guard during the theft of the Da Vinci attributed painting was more like a "What was done?"  Eventually, all questions are answered about these thefts.  So the mystery was resolved.