The Isleworth Smile: Part 1

By Pen Avram

The repercussions of a 1911 art theft are still being felt today. As Kroupa and Hendrcyh find themselves at the heart of an international conspiracy that began over a century ago, even they are baffled. Is Leonardo da Vinci really laughing at them from beyond the grave?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Pen Avram
• Release date: Mar 4, 2015
• ISBN: 9781311428134

Pen Avram

This one-time piano mechanic turned Master of Applied Science (Critical Enquiry/Social Ecology) fled to the West from the former Soviet bloc, finally finding his home in Australia. Growing up in a family touched by the horrors of the holocaust and communism, Pen Avram has spent his life studying what drives people of different faiths around the world to act the way they do. His insights now inform the mysteries investigated by the intrepid team of Kroupa and Hendrych. And Sara is a real dog, blood an bones.

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THE ISLEWORTH SMILE Part 1

A book by JJA

Based on the characters created by Pen Avram

PUBLISHED BY:

Pen Avram on Smashwords

Smashwords Edition License Notes:

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the author's work.

Copyright 2015 Text-Author - JJA

Copyright 2015 ArtDesign Author - JJA

The author and the artwork designer assert the moral rights to

be identified as the author and designer of this work,

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Chapter 1 - Unwanted guests

Kroupa was sitting in the living room of his home, enjoying a rare evening in familial company. His distant nephew, or to be more accurate, the son of his distant cousin, had come to stay for a few days, while attending a student conference as part of his preparations for his matriculation at the end of the year.

Kroupa couldn’t decide if his nephew was still a boy, or a young man. Not a parent himself, and never a huge fan of the youth of the day, he observed his lodger with as much interest as he would a murder suspect.

Murder, however, was the last thing on his mind, as he sat there, his feet up on the footrest in front of him. His nephew meanwhile was lying on the shag-pile rug in front of Kroupa. Stretched out on his belly, his head cupped in his hands, he stared at the television intently, while Sara snored every so gently by his side.

Kroupa had never been a fan of ‘Doctor Who’. It wasn’t that he didn’t like it (he didn’t know enough about it to dislike it), but it had never really grabbed him until his nephew had suggested they watch a 1979 episode together. He’d been most intrigued to discover that it had been co-written by the late Douglas Adams. Kroupa had loved the writer’s later television epic, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, but until then he’d had no idea that Adams had first honed his craft as a writer on ‘Doctor Who’.

The story in question revolved around the quaint idea of a time-travelling alien, who’d convinced Leonardo Da Vinci to paint several copies of the ‘Mona Lisa’ for him, so that over the centuries he might become phenomenally wealthy, in what was not so much a ‘get rich quick’ scheme, as a scheme to ‘get rich slowly over 473 years’ to be precise.

Kroupa had to admit that it was an entertaining premise, the obvious plot holes aside. He’d remained genuinely amused throughout, especially when comic genius, John Cleese, made a guest appearance as an art aficionado