Death of a Young Lieutenant by B.R. Stateham

An art heist set in one of the most un-likeliest of places, World War 1, Death of a Young Lieutenant by B.R. Stateham subtly brings forth a facet of the war that is rarely touched upon – Robbery.

World War 1 often referred to in its time by the British as the Great War and by the Americans as the European War always conjures up images of death and destruction. It was the first time the world as a cohesive unit battled against each other and it is still referred to as “the war to end all wars”. It is during this time that the Nazi plunder occurred where precious art and other items were stolen by Nazi agents.

The fictional stories that are generally told about this period talk about bravery, escape, steadfastness and the horrors of the time.

Death of a Young Lieutenant is starkly different.

It’s a jam packed Art Heist, Murder Mystery, Action Thriller, Historical and World War 1 story.

Set in a flashback sequence that starts with our protagonist, the octogenarian, multi-talented conman Jake Reynolds, giving a young reporter a tour of his most treasured vault filled with paintings by the grand-masters - Monets, Raphaels, da Vincis, Picassos and Degas.

Herein lies the pièce de résistance, set upon an old Louis XIVth table, a three oak paneled painting by one of the early grand-masters of oil paintings Jan Van Eyck - Madonna and Christ child.

[I couldn’t resist searching for the painting. Have included it below so you can get an idea of the beauty of this masterpiece.]

Picture courtesy of https://www.researchgate.net/

The story behind its acquisition begins here as does the murder mystery as does the war.

“The insane carnival of nationalistic lust to kill the enemy lasted all of two weeks.”

Stationed in the Royal Flying Corps due to his great connection as a conman extraordinaire.“Jake was a thief. But not just an ordinary thief. He was not the smash-and-run kind of commonplace criminal found in any back alley. Mediocrity was not in his vocabulary.Jake was a connoisseur. A master at his trade.”

Jake gets called upon to do daring feats from gathering Intel, dropping spies over covert enemy lines to even investigating a murder. When a young sergeant in his unit dies of suspicious circumstances in a plane crash, Jake is the only one in the unit standing between the death of a young lieutenant - Lieutenant Oglethorpe.

In the midst of his quest to prove the lieutenant’s innocence Jake gets shot at, bombed, crashes into enemy territory and still manages to do the elusive thing that all conmen do – stealthy steal a painting in daylight from German territory. The tables are turned here and Jake steals the painting from the Nazi’s who had stolen it from a church in France.

Action packed with twists at every turn, this book is a true delight for anyone who loves history. The story is peppered with little excerpts of that era from tales of the wright brothers to war strategies deployed by both sides as well as infinite wisdom about war.

“Fools died heroic deaths. Idiots believed in laying down one’s life for a lost cause. The patriotic idealists had so far been the cannon fodder in this war. But not him. Not Jake Reynolds.

He was a pragmatist. He was in this war not because he was some dreamy eyed college student who believed in God and Country.

He was a realist. He was in this war because . . . because . . .?”

So glad I got this ARC, as a former history student and a reader of thrillers and mystery it was a splendorous read. Hope you liked my fair and honest review.

Just be careful though Jake is "as dangerous and as slippery as a poltergeist!”

Happy Reading :)