Claude Brickell

Assassins' Trail Claude Brickell

In 1911, the 'Mona Lisa' was stolen from the Louvre. It was recovered two years later and returned to the museum. What arrived, though, was not the original but a copy, a fake. Embarrassed that advanced publicity had already gone out on the famous work's recovery, the museum made a decision to keep the secret until the original could be found. It never was. Fast forward to today and recent documents after the fall of the Soviets point to the original hidden somewhere in Russia. Accomplished art historian Michael Bennington is enlisted by the museum, along with Natalie Sherbakova, Russian-born Louvre curator, to descend into the Russian hinterland, locate the whereabouts of this long-lost work. It is no easy task. The assassins they uncover have left a ruthless trail and the two are forced to face a treacherous journey of FSB (former KGB) intrigue. .