The Duke of Cleveland: A Milan Jacovich Mystery (Milan Jacovich Mysteries) (Volume 6)

#6 in the Milan Jacovich mystery series . . .

The wonderful thing about art is that it doesn t really have to do anything . . . All that is asked of it is that it be beautiful. It doesn t work that way with people.

So begins a sortie by Cleveland private investigator Milan Jacovich (it s pronounced MY-lan YOCK-ovich) into the cutthroat world of fine art. A slumming young heiress, April Delavan, hires Milan to find her most recent boyfriend, a potter who has absconded with $18,000 of her trust fund money.

But it doesn t figure that his disappearance would pique the interest of someone like Victor Gaimari, the elegant and affable mob figure with whom straight arrow Milan seems to be developing a love-hate relationship.

Milan soon learns that the former boyfriend may have made a few other enemies, and suddenly, fine art starts looking a little rough around the edges. It turns out truth and beauty don t always mix well at least in the art business.