The Madonna of the Veil

About the Book

A news item announcing the finding of a Hitler Album stimulates Emily’s interest in the world of lost and stolen art. While studying the subject on the Internet, she recognizes Raphael’s sixteenth century masterpiece, The Madonna of the Veil, as part of the art collection in the villa of Franco, the drug lord, in Columbia. She is determined to confirm that his art collection includes stolen paintings and, in the process, uncovers a cache of artifacts thought to be from the Nazi looting of European museums during World War II. Her resolve to acquire the artifacts and return them to the original owners entices her to invest in Franco’s opiate drug operation. While she’s negotiating for the paintings, her young daughter Susan stumbles into a sophisticated art-reproduction operation that replicates original oil paintings, including the carbon-dating test. Her task team works their way through the confusing underground market in art spurred by insurance companies fighting fraudulent loss claims and uncooperative museums.

About the Author

In retirement, Clifford Lueck turned his interests to creative writing as the late effects of childhood polio reduced his mobility. The Emily series, now numbering four books, evolved over a nine-year period, including Emily, The Inheritance, The Beach House, The Santa Gabriela, and the current one, The Madonna of the Veil. Each book feeds off the preceding issue as a young Emily, starting off her adult life with a baby, evolves into a maturing woman meeting life’s challenges with gusto and determination.