Dirty Linen (A Fred Taylor mystery) - Hardcover

"Irreverent . . . witty . . . the erudite but down-to-earth Fred is a treasure." (The New York Times Book Review) "Kilmer's artful depiction of local color puts him in a category with the early work of Robert B. Parker, whose quick word pictures of people and places captured New England character." (Boston Herald)

A cache of old erotic paintings is purchased clandestinely at a benefit seaside auction, under the noses of competing dealers and of the would-be high society of Westport, Massachusetts. Boston collector Clayton Reed and his agent, Fred Taylor, must provide a cloak of respectability for the collection - and then defend it from the increasingly violent enthusiasm of others who suspect its value only after the sale. For word gets out that these pictures may illuminate the dark side of a major artist. How did the late Lord Hanford come to have such pictures? What of his sudden death? What about that young and lovely American widow? As the nature of the collection is revealed, so too is its dubious history - which leads from murder and double-dealing in the margins of the Boston and London art worlds, back through time until a shocking crime of Victorian prudery is laid bare.