The Art Forger by B. A. Shapiro

What an interesting read!  I know nothing about art forgery (maybe this is a good thing?) and really not much about art.  But I learned more than I ever need to know about it from this book, and I found it fascinating.  The plot may be a bit contrived, but it kept me reading and enjoying.  Claire is an artist who paints reproductions for a living because her own art work has not yet been discovered.  She's approached to paint a reproduction of a Degas painting, and is told she's painting it from the original.  Because Claire is not only talented artistically but is also brilliant, she recognized that she's painting from a copy and she begins her research to find out the story.  All kinds of other interesting characters cross her path, and there's a nice satisfying ending.  What more can you ask for?  A great summer read. -June