A brilliant but troubled artist. His lost masterpiece. A desperate search for the truth.

Two old letters are discovered, revealing the possible existence of a massive unknown van Gogh painting. Only four people have ever seen the work, all of them now dead. In one of the letters, a deceased alcoholic and con man, claims to have smuggled the painting out of France at the beginning of World War Two. Discovering the letters, the man’s two sons dedicate themselves to finding the van Gogh, while seeking personal redemption for their father and damaged childhoods.

Valued at a staggering $250 million if it exists, the painting also attracts the attention of three unscrupulous collectors and the Russian mob. Dogged by a dysfunctional childhood and skeptical of his father’s tale, Adam first dismisses the old letters. Fighting to rescue his brother from alcoholism, he struggles to stay afloat in his small Chicago art gallery. Representing a brilliant young Russian artist, Adam finds himself on the verge of success when the artist is murdered and his brother wounded.

The murder and letters unwittingly attract the attention of Viktor Senovski, the dead artist’s uncle and head of Chicago’s Russian mob. Dogged by Senovski and pressured by three wealthy collectors, Adam finds himself embroiled with Phillip Dansby (ex-British SAS officer), Jack McMinnis (a rags-to-riches collector), and Arthur Jennings (a corrupt California art dealer). All three are former associates of his Adam’s father, and one has engaged a professional killer to dispose of Adam after the van Gogh is found.  

Adam, skeptical of the van Gogh’s existence, undertakes the search to redeem his father’s name and save his brother from Senovski’s clutches. Senovski assigns Katya Veranova, a beautiful ex-KGB assassin and defector, as his bodyguard. As they travel to Holland, Paris, California, and New York on a suspense-filled mission, they become troubled lovers, forming an intimate but tenuous bond. Faced with academic ridicule and threatened at every turn, Adam and Kat confront a succession of unseen dangers Tracked by the unseen contract killer, their lives are further imperiled when a wily KGB operative is assigned to eliminate Kat.

Their quest for the Van Gogh becomes more elusive as the two unseen killers stalk them and murders pile up at an alarming rate. Welcome to the high-end art world, secret deals, and billionaires willing to go to any length to get their hands on the last Van Gogh.

The Last Van Gogh combines a look back at a tortured artist’s last days with a modern search for his largest painting.

Winner of the 2019 Maxy Award for Best Mystery-Detective Novel.

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Selected as the 2019 Maxy Award Winner for Best Mystery-Detective Novel.

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