Portrait of an Unknown Woman

 

Portrait of an Unknown Woman by Daniel Silva  431 pp.

Gabriel Allon has retired from his job as head of the Israeli Secret Service and settled, with his family, in Venice. His wife, Chiara, is running Tiepolo Restoration Company while Gabriel does the art restorations. Soon he is drawn into a deadly investigation of the sale of art forgeries on a grand scale. To catch the forgers and unscrupulous dealers, Allon must become the world's greatest art forger and enter into the dirty side of the multimillion dollar art world. This book has all the action and intrigue of the previous novels without the political angle.

My Cousin Rachel

 

My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier  352 pp.

I first read this book when I was in my twenties and found it disappointing and not even close to the caliber of du Maurier's Rebecca. I decided to revisit it in audiobook form to see if my opinion of it had changed. I can say this time around I found it somewhat better. The author did an excellent job of keeping the reader guessing as to Rachel's motives. However, the behavior of Philip grows tedious. He first believes Rachel to be the cause of his cousin's death, then becomes smitten with her before once again believing she had an evil streak and was trying to kill him. My opinion of this book is better than the first time I read it because I appreciate the author's writing more but I will never reread it again (unlike Rebecca).