The Sweet Short Grass

JACKET NOTES:  Detective Inspector Franco Corti of the London Art and Antiques Squad is hack, but with a difference. He's changed his name legally to Frank Short in an attempt to overcome the English prejudice against foreigners--especially Italians from London's East End. One thing that hasn't changed, though, is the inspectors knack for getting himself into trouble. While investigating a Piero di Cosimo painting which he suspects is a forgery. Corti acquires from his father a lovely little painting that appears to be of the school of Fra Angelico--and the painting is stolen. Worse luck, it seems that it may be it genuine Angelico. Worst of all, the story hits the newspapers and people begin to wonder how it is that a cop could own such a treasure, and Corti finds himself suspended from the force pending an investigation into possible graft. But he’s determined to clear his name--which he changes back, defiantly, to its Italian version--and he's a hard man to stop, especially when murder enter the picture...
(© Crime Club)