All Done by Kindness

There are some embroidered waistcoats . . . They are very old. A museum might be glad of them. . . . There are some pictures too Mrs. Hovenden brought out with a fresh effort oil paintings that were in the rectors family.The kindness of Dr George Sandilands towards an elderly patient and her insistence on repaying him with the detritus of her attic sets in motion a comedy of errors that rocks the art world. Dr Sandilands finally accepts a stack of begrimed paintings to the horror of his eldest daughter a stern housekeeper. But his younger daughter is prepared to be swept up in the romance of old treasures and her boss an amateur art connoisseur develops a theory about the artworks and clings to it like a dog with a bone. Enter an art expert whos not above some shady maneuvers his adoring secretary the director of the local art museum and a sleazy London dealer.Doris Langley Moore has packed her unpredictable compulsively readable plot with subtlety wit and insight and with an array of characters both lovable and so delectably nefarious that theyre begging for their just deserts. All Done by Kindness is a rollicking masterpiece of tight plotting and unexpected machinations. This new edition features an introduction by Sir Roy Strong.