Brian Beatty’s two passions in life are his art gallery, supported by the wealthy Eddie Battersby, and silent comedy films. 

His family knew Stan Laurel, who is Brian’s idol. For all his perceived innocence, Brian is a master at attracting publicity, due to his habit of dressing up in the costumes of silent movie stars.

He seems wholly unaware of the plotting going on around him by two rival gallery owners, Angela Whyte and Ken Woodward, as well as Eddie’s wife, Tina. Angela’s property developer husband, Tony, also has his own interests in Brian’s gallery and contacts a wily hotelier and local councillor to get his hands on the building.

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But as Angela and Ken pursue their separate plans, their relationships begin to unravel, while Tony finds dealing with the council far trickier than he’d anticipated. Despite his reluctance to have his wife run an art gallery, Eddie, after much scheming, comes up with a compromise.

Meanwhile, things intensify further when Brian passes away after a short illness, and two of his friends make a shocking discovery, uncovering what lies inside a locked wooden box.

My Review

This was a very gentle read, rather like the previous novel Late Venetian which I read by this author. The main characters range from kind like gallery owner Brian Beatty, to scheming like the wealthy entrepreneur Eddie Battersby, to downright dodgy like rival gallery owner Ken Woodward. Then we have Angela Whyte, who runs yet another gallery, and her husband, property developer Tony Whyte, plus Ken’s wife the delightful Lollipop.

Brian, who has spent much of his later adult life caring for his father, passes away after a short illness. Everyone wants his gallery and will do anything to get their hands on it, especially if they can make lots of money. One of them is Eddie, whose wife Tina is as dim as a Toc H lamp and I’m being generous. Why can’t she run the gallery – it can’t be that hard – and use her initials as the new name ie the TB Gallery? Heaven help us!

It’s all a bit complicated until you get to know everyone. This is definitely a character-driven story, which I thoroughly enjoyed, but I think you need to be of a certain vintage to appreciate it. Everyone is perfectly written and well drawn in delightful detail. I would definitely read another book by this author.

I almost forgot – what is the significance of the small bowler hat?

Many thanks to @ZooloosBT  for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.

About the Author

“Apart from three years studying History of Art and Philosophy at University College London, I have lived my entire life in the North West – born in Warrington, lived and worked in Manchester, and fourteen years ago moved to north Cumbria.

“After several years of freelance arts journalism, I ran a NW-based public relations agency called Lawson Leah in the 1990s, then worked for various organisations in the construction industry, as CEO of Construction for Merseyside Ltd and then Director of the Civil Engineering Contractors’ Association. I have been a guest lecturer on urban regeneration and chaired a housing association for three years, and now work part-time as a consultant.

“I have had articles on a range of topics, including the arts, construction, engineering, housing and economic development published in numerous magazines, as well as poetry and a guidebook to waterway walks in the NW.

“My approach to writing tends to involve identifying a problematic situation and then finding a means of resolving it. I derive particular pleasure from finding the right words to achieve that. I was first inspired to write, as a teenager, after reading The Catcher in the Rye, and latterly find inspiration in the daunting novels of Bellow, Nabokov and Pynchon.”

Where can you find them?
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/guylawson274/

Book Links
Goodreads: www.goodreads.com
Purchase Link: www.amazon.co.uk