The Forger

by Robin Wallace-Crabbe

1 876631 82 1

B format $20.00

Publication date: August 2003

The return of Essington Holt

Essington was one of the heroes of Australian crime fiction in the 1980s, but since then he’s been taking it easy and has become a father. He’s also been doing a little forgery in the basement of his mansion in the south of France, selling property developer Sam Kriticos an art collection worth US$10 million.

Unfortunately, Kriticos discovers the scam and comes after Essington and his family. At the same time the French police have fingered Kriticos for heroin dealing and Essington’s wife is getting too close to a Buddhist monk named Richard. The outcome is an explosive race across the world ending in Sydney, where an increasingly wild and drunken Essington tries to stop his infant son from being killed by an enraged Kriticos, all the while pulling off one last, brilliant art scam.

As part of the scam, Essington hires models to pose for him and the resulting pictures are reproduced in the book.