The Kollwitz Calamities

<p>Two monumental granite statues by famed German artist Käthe Kollwitz—the <em>Grieving Parents—</em>have been stolen from a World War I soldiers’ cemetery in Belgium. What could the motive have been for such an unlikely theft? On a visit to the director of the Kollwitz Museum in Cologne retired art history professor and Kollwitz scholar Megan Crespi is asked to aid in tracking down the robber or robbers. As she pursues clues and visits possible suspects more Kollwitz statues are stolen in Cologne and Berlin. Crespi’s itinerary takes her to the Berlin Kollwitz Museum Weimar the Baltic Sea island of Rügen Greifswald and finally to the Kollwitz House in Moritzburg. On the way she interacts with physicians Abraham Rückgabe and Iliana Frankel the just-married couple Monika von Putbus and Akram al-Aljamie and unscrupulous CEO of Rügen’s asbestos-contaminated Dorotek factory Reinhold Fromm collector of dominatrix drawings. We meet possible suspects Iranian prince Yusri Pahlavi greedy Lukas Zamann of the Galerie Zamann and the mysterious “Marie Schmidt” of Moritzburg Kollwitz’s final home. All seem to be connected to the spate of Kollwitz thefts. Can Crespi solve these thefts and will the precious artworks be found? An unexpected denouement involving seven persons and two cats <a name=_GoBack></a>gives us the answer.</p>