Martin Suter - AllMen and the Dragonflies

Details
Paperback - As new

Rating
3.8/5 Goodreads

Synopsis
Johann Friedrich von Allmen, a bon vivant of dandified refinement, has exhausted his family fortune by living in Old World grandeur despite present-day financial constraints. Forced to downscale, Allmen inhabits the garden house of his former Zurich estate, attended by his Guatemalan butler. When not reading novels by Balzac and Somerset Maugham, he plays jazz on a Bechstein baby grand. Allmen's fortunes take a sharp turn when he meets a stunning blonde whose lakeside villa contains five Art Nouveau bowls created by renowned French artist Émile Gallé and decorated with a dragonfly motif. Allmen, faced with mounting debts, absconds with the price- less bowls and embarks on a high-risk, potentially violent bid to cash them in.

“Allmen is a protagonist of impeccable taste and dubious morality—a thief with a refined eye who steals accordingly. He is also excellent company, and the dark charms of Suter's novel are irresistible from the first pages." - Joshua Max Feldman
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"A vivid portrait of an impoverished gentleman and the more sinister side of the art market. Art Nouveau glass maker Émile Galle's transcendently beautiful creations have a well-deserved star turn in this delightful crime story." - Carina Villinger