[Trim] A Long Time Coming by Aaron Elkins - 4 stars

[Theresa]

If you are intrigued by stories of art thefts and forgeries, real and fictional, this is a contemporary mystery for you, even if mysteries aren't your reading choice.

Two Renoirs are found at a flee market in Eastern Europe by a Milanese art dealer. In the resulting publicity, Sol, an elderly Italian Jew, a WWII survivor now living in NYC, recognizes them as paintings stolen from his great-grandfather's kitchen in Milano just a few months before the Nazis were defeated. After pursuing his legal rights in the Italian courts and losing, Valentino Caruso, a Met Museum curator heading to Milano for business, (gotta love the name!) agrees to see if he can get a lifetime loan of the one that's a café scene featuring Sol's great-grandfather. Of course it isn't that simple and all is not resolved until murder occurs.

I rounded this up from a 3.5 because all the art heist and forgery information, the legalities of art theft in Italy vs. the US, the WWII art theft background, were extensive and the soul of the story. The characters were fun, and though I have never been to Milano, I feel as if I would recognize it from reading this.