Publisher's Synopsis
In the 1880s, Vincent van Gogh vainly attempted to recruit a number of avant-garde artists to settle in the neighbourhood of Arles and become the 'Impressionists of the South'. One of them, who had his own reasons for leaving Paris, did indeed travel to Arles, but subsequently exiled himself to the neighbouring Camarague. There, amidst the lagoons and marshes of Etang de Vaccares, painter Aristide Bertrand, the scion of a noble house, worked for a couple of years before vanishing without trace. Only three canvases by this frenzied genius seemingly survived until now. At a meeting in an untenanted East London office block, dealer Catherine Lacy is shown six reputed Bertrands, and offered the chance of selling a cache of his work recently discovered in an undisclosed location. Catherine is enormously excited, but her husband, security expert Tim Lacy, is less than thrilled when the agent concerned is fished out of the Thames. Swayed by the potential importance of this discovery, he finally agrees that their new associate, Emma Kerr, should go to Provence -- with veteran George Martin to keep an eye on her. Within days, Emma is abducted, and Lacy himself must go looking for her. Now he finds himself with a bagful of mysteries to solve. Where is Emma? Who killed the agent, and why? How is Marseilles crime syndicate involved? Are the paintings genuine? Who are the members of the Camargue Brotherhood, self-appointed guardians of Bertrand's work and reputation? What made the artist's return to civilisation impossible? And whatever happened to Bertrand anyway? Only when he discovers the answers to these interrelated questions can Lacy secure Emma's release -- if he is not too late already.
