Book Review: The Frame-Up by Gwenda Bond

Ten years ago, Dani Poissant thought that she’d left her old art heist crew behind for good. Nowadays, she works as an itinerant con artist, traveling from town to town and finding easy marks, with a side of Robin Hood do-gooding along the way. Her only companion is her beloved dog Sunflower, also a stray like herself, who provides the muscle when she gets into sticky situations. It’s a lonely existence, but one she’s resigned herself to living.

That all changes when a mysterious figure shows up while she’s in the middle of cutting a deal. Archer is her estranged mother’s shadowy partner-in-crime, and he’s come with a proposition for her. If she steals a single painting from an upcoming auction, he’ll reconcile her with her mother, the notorious art thief Maria Poissant, who’s refused to speak to her own daughter since their epic falling out a decade prior:

Dani’s mother taught her well enough, that things that were too good to be true were always fakes, promises like this were fairy dust that dissolved when you flipped the lights on. Yet, in this dark bar, Dani felt hope in every beat of her heart.

 

She realized she wanted to say yes, for multiple reasons. Archer was a mystery, still, after all these years. This would give her a chance to pry, to solve it, to figure out who he was and what hold he had on her mother.

 

That wasn’t the most enticing part of his offer. She could hardly allow herself to contemplate it. But suppose he could close the abyss between her and her mother?

So against her better judgment, she agrees. When she hears the conditions of the heist, her confidence sinks even further. The Fortress of Art is well known in artistic circles, as it’s rumored to be the most valuable private collection in the world. More intriguingly, it was jealously guarded by its owner, William Hackworth, who allowed no one except himself to view the contents. He’d constructed an elaborate security system to ensure this, one that consistently foiled even the most skilled art thieves, including the Poissant crew themselves.

With William’s demise, his only son and heir Brad is eager to get rid of the fortress’ contents, announcing an auction to dispose of the art within less than a fortnight. This has, of course, set the art world on fire with anticipation. Unsurprisingly, it’s also drawn the attention of criminals, who see a ripe opportunity for illicit profit, and the members of law enforcement hot on their trails.

As part of the operation, Archer introduces Dani to Brad as a security specialist. Sparks fly almost immediately between the undercover criminal and the charming billionaire, but Dani knows that that won’t be enough to carry off the audacious heist. She’s going to need her old crew back, as well as the magical abilities that made them the best art thieves in the world. She and her crew had once been so close that they’d been practically family, but they won’t let her return to the fold without a fight. How far will Dani go to win back their trust, when failure means the possibility of never regaining her mother’s love?

This is a juicy paranormal crime caper with plenty of family drama and a sweet little love triangle. My favorite parts were both the historical flashbacks and the musings on the ethics of the art market. Dani isn’t afraid to get her hands dirty in order to right injustices as a con artist, and has little sympathy for the wealthy people she robs:

Sometimes the art world got it right, recognized true genius, rewarded it, and sometimes other reasons and outcomes prevailed. There were a lot of broke geniuses. A lot of dead, valuable artists. And if they became famous while they were alive and had sold a painting for seventeen dollars when they were younger? The artists didn’t see another dime on that piece if it suddenly became worth seventeen million dollars and someone else sold it. That part of what [her crew] did always made sense to Dani. It was an ecosystem they were part of balancing.

 

No different than any other con. Or business.

I always enjoy a book that reflects thoughtfully on the ethics and history of art, especially when it’s linked to a little mysticism, modern or otherwise. I was somewhat surprised that my favorite character wound up being Brad, especially given my weakness for found family narratives—he was by far the most memorable and fleshed out member of this diverse cast. The ending of The Frame-Up does hint at sequels to come, so I hope we’ll be seeing him and Dani again in future novels.