‘An art crime thriller for the ages…’
– Watching Over You
[ About Watching Over You ]
Alternating between London and Paris in the 1940s, the 1960s, and the present, Watching Over You explores the provenance of a collection of paintings hidden from the plundering Nazis during World War II and the fate of the families entangled in the search for the lost artworks.
The novel touches on the themes of greed and heroism inspired by the stolen works, tracing the web of collaborators, opportunists, and art dealers who exploited the Third Reich’s lust for prestigious trophies. The hero, restaurateur Michel de la Rue, walks a financial tightrope while his spendthrift head chef and brother, Antoine, depletes their strained resources. The narrative switches between Michel and Antoine’s foodie tour of France (which is being filmed by a documentary TV crew), the machinations of art dealer Alain Deschamps, and his pursuers—Interpol’s Lorenzo Pieters and the Le Monde journalist, Fabian Ritzier.
The battle between Michel trying to protect his family’s precious heirloom and Alain’s brutal hunt for the missing paintings results in a relentless chase across the continent.
[ My Review ]
Watching Over You by Irish actor, director and writer Simon Delaney published with LA based Rare Bird Books August 13th but it’s Irish launch was late September in Chapters Bookstore in Dublin. Simon Delaney is well known for many roles but one of my favourites is his radio show on Lyric FM, Sunday Afternoon with Simon Delaney, when I can sit back and enjoy great music while immersing myself in a good read. It’s clear from listening to Simon Delaney’s track choices on Lyric that he has an appreciation for music and culture. With his previous publication being a cookery book, he has now brought all his passions together writing a thriller set in the art world, with a strong culinary input.
Watching Over You takes the reader on a journey back in time to the occupation of France, when the Nazi machine was laying claim to valuable works of art that were stolen from the families that were sent to the camps. The French Resistance were active in trying to smuggle some of these pieces out of the country but some were sold on the international art market never to be returned to their rightful owners or their families. One such fictional collection is the focus of this novel, the ‘Obscurum Amicis’, six paintings originally owned by Laurence and Rebecca Rothstein. The Rothsteins were sent to Belsen, their daughter Edsel was smuggled out of the country and the fate of the six paintings became a mystery.
Alain Deschamps is a ruthless and ambitious art dealer with his eye set on retrieving these paintings. He has his own secrets that he prefers to keep in the shadows. Over the years he has developed strong connections with the murky criminal underworld. Deschamps is a cruel, vindictive and greedy man, allowing nothing to get in his way and he is prepared to go to great lengths to achieve his objective.
Michel & Antoine de la Rue own an exclusive restaurant that they inherited from their parents but their personal history is a potted one. The business is in financial difficulty and Michel is struggling to keep it afloat. His older brother Antoine, is head chef but Antoine lives a carefree existence, gambling away their earnings and living the high-life.
Antoine is easy with money and his party lifestyle has put the restaurant into debt. Michel is the thinker, the one who researches everything carefully with targeted results but Michel is challenged when he discovers that they really are on borrowed time as the restaurant declines before his eyes. But Michel has a plan and, if executed, it could solve all their woes. It involves them taking part in a cookery show, travelling across France doing ‘a foodie tour’ with a camera crew on their tail. If they can pull this off, the payoff could provide them with the much-needed stability Michel yearns for.
As Michel and Antoine embark on their adventure a parallel plot unfolds. The brothers soon find themselves caught up in a game of cat and mouse that involves multiple individuals, intricate planning and careful manoeuvres. Can the brothers rescue their restaurant? Will Deschamps be successful in the search for what he perceives as his just rewards? Will justice be served?
Watching Over You is a complex story with a labyrinthine plot. There were a few editorial/spelling issues that I felt should have been tidied up before the book hit the shelves so I do hope these will be picked up in future editions. With a sinister edge, the novel delves into the Third Reich’s illegal confiscation of multiple works of art, exploring the concepts of forgery, fraud, and obsession. The individual characters are all well developed, with strong visuals and intriguing backstories. Watching Over You is a promising debut, a suspenseful tale, an entertaining read.
[ Bio ]
Simon Delaney has been working as an actor, director, and writer for over twenty years in Ireland, the UK and the US. He is currently starring in The Woman in the Wall alongside Ruth Wilson, and he’s the author of Simply Simon’s: The Diner Cookbook. Watching Over You is his first novel.
Instagram ~ @simondelaneyesq
