Das Vermächtnis (The Legacy)
The debut of US author Richard Surface Published September 15, 2014
Translated by Zoë Beck
Das Vermächtnis
Gabriel started, puzzled. "Grandpa's father? I know nothing about him. How could I? I mean, he passed away long ago, before I was born. "
"He died in 1969, thirty-four years ago. But he did not 'pass away'. He was murdered. Shot. Gunned down in Florence, before my eyes." She paused, her eyes roaming over Gabriel's stunned expression. "If you do not take the train tomorrow, the same will happen to you."
Two more shots punched holes in the undercarriage of the Vespa
His eyes darted to the entrance of the square. His chest squeezed at the sound of leather heels on cobblestones. A dark figure halted and squinted up at the corroded street sign embedded in the masonry. Then the figure turned and sprinted straight towards him. He pressed his back deeper into the niche. His shoulder blades clenched as ice water soaked his shirt. He pulled the .22 from his pocket, the safety trembling under his thumb. The figure was on to him as he raised the pistol ...
Monsieur le Commandant de la police judiciaire Georges Savarin, head of Interpol's Art Crime unit ...
"... A priceless work of art." Chairs scraped. Journalists were on their feet, necks craned to get a better look. Savarin paused, frowning. "It has been missing for three hundred and sixty years." He ran an eye over the crowd. "We found this painting," he continued, "in the Gard du Nord ... a High Renaissance masterpiece... wrapped in dirty linen, stuffed in a luggage locker ..."
The debut Novel by US author Richard Surface
An old man is brutally tortured in the gardens of Alte Pinachotek, Munich, but the location of his Legacy he does not reveal.
A murder, a lost Renaissance masterpiece at the pinnacle of Western art heritage, a dangerous legacy. To Interpol, the victim was the art crook of the century, and while they chase after the art work, the victim's grandson Gabriel pursues the shadowy killers, finding himself pitted against EU Commissioner of Cultural Affairs, a secretive society of owners of lost and stolen art, and his own growing fascination with the legendary transformational power of his grandfather's Legacy.
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Richard Surface is an American thriller author. He studied mathematics and art history at university, followed by a Master in Business Administration and worked as CEO of an insurance company before turning to writing.
He has written several short stories and is currently working on a second thriller, set in contemporary Rome and Sicily. He divides his time among London, Munich and Los Angeles.