It’s 1953 and WWII veteran William Oxley is working as an insurance agent specializing in stolen paintings. He gets a call from the Museum of Modern Art in New York who have had a work stolen which was painted by the up and coming artist Jackson Pollock just ahead of its unveiling at an exhibition. As Oxley does his best to trace the painting he comes into contact with Liz Bower, whose father heads the foundation that are bankrolling the exhibition. Mr Bower has made his fortune partly from contracts with the US military. As William and Liz’s relationship blossoms he worries that she is involved with radical communist groups. Then Oxley’s investigations into the stolen artwork lead him into a web of paranoia and conspiracy. Oxley’s experiences in the war still haunt him. There is an evocative passage recalling how he picked his way through the brutal aftermath of the beaches of Normandy just a month after the D-Day landings. Another is the recurring cold sweat of a nightmare of blood and mud and the “glassy, liquid eyes” of a fellow soldier he is unable to help. But he finds solace in a painting. Panic and fear fade as he basks in the tranquillity of a Monet sunrise. He has found peace and true value in art. This is one of the reasons he has convinced his employers at All American Insurance to allow him to single-handedly run their art loss department.

The war, and the nuclear bombs in particular, had also changed the way some artists worked themselves as Liz Bower explains to Oxley, “…after the two bombs, they couldn’t make sense of painting flowers and nudes, so they turned inward, focusing on their experience with painting.” And it is work from this burgeoning new movement of abstract expressionism that is the focus of the particular art crime that triggers this story. The reasoning behind the theft is perplexing. With far more valuable paintings there for the taking why choose a painting by Jackson Pollock. An artist who is yet to really make his mark on anybody but the art world cognoscenti. Indeed, when Oxley calculates the reward he should offer based on the painting’s value it amounts to less than $100.

Jeff Lanier’s FOR THE MINDS AND WILLS OF MEN is a beautifully written, immaculately researched mystery that effortlessly blends elements of the dime store gumshoe detective pulp, the spy thriller and historical literary fiction. Lanier’s invocation of time and place is impeccable as is the sophisticated understanding of both art theory and commerce that underpins the novel. The author weaves an elegant plot through a fascinating period of American history as the country attempts to rouse itself from the impact of a world war. Cold war conspiracies raise their head as the newly founded House Un-American Activities Committee chase down real or imagined communists and radical artists carouse in the bars of New York after revolutionizing the art world with their seemingly incomprehensible abstract paintings. And through it all Lanier’s protagonist Oxley keeps a cool head with his eyes on the prize. There is a lot happening but the execution is perfectly structured, linear yet never predictable. A masterclass in tone and tempo.

Immaculately researched, carefully plotted and superbly paced, Jeff Lanier’s FOR THE MINDS AND WILLS OF MEN is a spellbinding literary mystery which effortlessly blends cold war paranoia, art history and the traditional gumshoe detective novel into a sophisticated thrill.

~Kent Lane for IndieReader