An amateur art collector raises questions about a possible art-forgery scheme of which Tom Ripley happens to be the mastermind and partial beneficiary. That leaves Mr. Ripley with only one course of action, but his solution gets a little complicated.

This is the second novel in Patricia Highsmith's Ripliad, a series of five novels featuring the casual murderer Tom Ripley. Unfortunately, this novel has a lot of overt explaining in its narrative, which is a no-no for me. Both the back-story at the beginning and Ripley's cover at the end are heavy-handed in this regard. As well, Ripley's wife, Heloise, is a little too thinly presented to make her acceptance of his actions believable.

It's too bad Highsmith made these choices as she has one of the best narrative voices for wide audiences. I often hold her up as an example of what I expect at a minimum from a decent writer.

For those who do decide to read Highsmith's Tom Ripley novels, read this one before Ripley Under Water, as that one is a sequel-of-sorts to this one.