The Old Masters is the latest book my husband and I have read together. Lately we have tended to go for shorter books because we do not get to read together too often, but we still want to accomplish something.
From my husband’s point of view, he thought it was maybe too short of a book, like it flew through the sequence of things and before you knew it, it was over. Had it stretched more, it probably would have done a lot more good. He was also thrown off by how much detective skills the Baron had for someone who from the beginning of the book was emphasized to be a master of care for the arts and it’s business. You were made to believe that that was all he was, but as the book went on, he became a renegade detective who has great skills in picklocks and sleuthing. My husband did say that he liked how you could never figure how and why the crime was happening and that was a great approach to a mystery.
I do agree with him on the length; it reminds me of the Sweet Valley High books, which I have a review on a group of them, where they are simple short adventures that one can read in a few hours if you plan on binging. The Old Masters is a plot that I could see being a storyline for an episode of some BBC crime show, and I think in that case I am just glad that the Baron is not some jerk who parades on his skills, but is genuinely about helping people and helping art.
I do have one other book in the Baron series still to read, so I would not be surprised that comes up pretty soon. In the meantime, I would recommend this for, like one paragraph before, if you plan on doing a short book series bender, or are looking for something easy to fill gaps, or gain confidence in speed like I usually do. I feel like this series is something that one at any age could read, which would be a plus for parents. You can find The Old Masters here.
7/10
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