Flora Fenton is an restorer and cataloguer, involved with a convoy of priceless works of art from the Royal Collection on route from London to Paris for a major art exhibition.
Archie Gibbs who has been retained as a security advisor, is pleased once the convoy reaches french soil to see that the convoy is receiving VIP treatment, with six BMW outriders, complete with sub-machine guns and 9mm automatic pistols.
When four kilometers outside Calais, the convoy is ambushed by masked gunmen with extremely sophisticted hardware, Archie lying on the ground tries to grapple with the enormity of the theft of thirty five priceless old masters property of Her Majesty the Queen, stolen in broad daylightwhilst under the protection of special security advisor Archibald Gibbs. 'When you make a cock-up Gibbs, its spectacular'
A chain of events leads to the recovery of the stolen wagons in a deserted old farm building. Nothing is missing. So what were the thieves after? The trail stretches from London to Japan as Archie Gibbs and Madeleine Husson, the head of the French Art Threfts Squad pit their wits against villains of remarkable cunning.
This was a debut thriller by Harriet Crawley, which I enjoyed. The book was published in 1994 and I have kept my eye open for any further books, by her, but so far I have not come across any other publications.
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Lizzie Hayes
October 1998