What would you do if you discovered a lost masterpiece worth millions, which a curator will kill to keep hidden?Sarah Downing, an art conservator, hiding in witness protection, identifies a lost masterpiece by Caravaggio. History says it burned in WWII Berlin, but here it is, on her easel. Soon she is fighting to save the painting and herself. Someone has betrayed Sarah—an agent, a friend? … agent, a friend? Whoever it was, her ex-husband Jimmy is standing on her street, outside her house, waiting.
What Sarah does next sends her from Kingston to Italy to rural Ontario in her desperate attempt to survive, save the Caravaggio and rebuild her life. What she doesn’t know is that her ex has found out about the painting and will murder to get it.
He has revenge in his heart, and soon he will have allies to help him catch her.
By the author of the exciting suspense series, Dangerous Journeys.
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Sarah Downing was put in WITSEC to hide her from her abusive mobster ex-husband. After 10 years, she is finally enjoying life again as an art conservator. While preserving a painting that is assumed to be a copy, she identifies it as a lost masterpiece by the artist Caravaggio. The next thing she knows, she is fighting to protect the painting
and running from both her ex-husband that has been released from prison and the people who want the painting.
While the book started out a bit slow and gave me more of an art history lesson then I wanted, once the suspense parts of the book came into play, the book took off for me. The plot is interwoven with mystery, suspense/thriller, and a bit of romance. The character of Sarah starts off as very timid and afraid of everything, but as the book progresses, you see her turn into a strong individual with strong values and conviction. She will do everything in her power to protect the painting while risking her own life to put the bad guys away.
I really enjoyed Painting of Sorrow, the latest novel from Virginia Winters. Her protagonist, Sarah Downing, is an art restorer and historian in Kingston, Ontario but her backstory reveals she is in Canada under a U.S. witness protection program. But that’s not where her trouble begins or ends.
Sarah discovers she is working to restore a Caravaggio masterpiece, passed off to her as a good copy of the original that disappeared during World War II. She knows better and that contributes to her troubles.
Sarah’s former husband has been released from prison and, somehow, has managed to track her in Canada. That magnifies her troubles.
Virginia Winters has written a thoroughly engaging story with details of art restoration that remind me of some of Daniel Silva’s novels. Winters writes with charming detail – the reader sees what the protagonist sees, Sarah often views what she sees in terms of a well-known painting.
I have enjoyed the books I’ve read in Winters’ medical crime series and I hope to see more of Sarah Downing in, perhaps, future sophisticated art restoration crime novels.
This was a fast paced and at times action pact story. Sarah Downing is a transplant to Canada after being emitted to the American Witness protection plan after she testified against Jimmy, her brutal ex husband. 10 years have passed and Jimmy is released from prison and wanting to find out where his ex wife is.
Sarah has changed her name and appearance and is now an art restorer in Kingston, Ontario ,and who is working on a painting she believes to be an original. Her boss knows this as well and has other plans for the piece of art, so the drama begins.
This story takes you on a whirlwind ride, as she tries to outsmart her ex, find a safe place for the painting, and herself and keep the people she loves from being hurt along the way.
There is a good connection between a lot of the characters, even a budding romance. Sarah is drawn to art and often will refer a scene she is looking at to a painter and piece of art.
This I enjoyed as I always look them up to see what she was seeing and learn about a new artist to me as well.
This was a fun story with a lot of twist and turns.
I would like to thank NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for the ARC of this book.