The Collector by Anne-Laure Thiéblemont, Sophie Weiner (Translated by)

She searches for stolen art.  Her specialty is eighteenth century art.  She never knew her father, so when she finds out she has inherited an art collection she's stunned.  How could this be true?

Le French Book and Edelweiss allowed me to read this book for review (thank you).  It will be published August 11th, so watch for it then.

Marion finds that he has collected a whole house full of antiques, many dating back to the days of the Inca.  Many are obscene, some are attractive, and she has no idea of their worth or what to do with them.  She may not need to worry about that because her father has assigned her the task of finding three priceless statues from his collection that he had sold.  If she reacquires those, she inherits.  If not, it goes to his personal assistant.  As you can expect, the personal assistant offers no aid to her quest.  He'd rather she failed.

This story takes you deep into the world of collectors.  There is a very elite group that authenticate the time period the work came from.  The ones who want to own them are obviously monied and greedy for the best pieces.  So stakes come high when there is artwork that might become available again.

Marion's father was a very selfish man who indulged himself in lust.  He wasn't anyone I would have liked meeting.  He was even an embarrassment in death but that was hidden.  However, this task that he's assigned Marion is actually part of a bigger plan.  She has no idea.  She also knows not who she can trust, but she does know there is a killer about.  As two of the people who were involved in the statues sales suddenly show up dead, she knows she's in danger, too.

You learn about the history of some of the statues and you meet some very determined people.  You'd think even collectors ought to realize that if you go so far as killing someone to get your prize, you must be obsessed...