A Literary Triptych

By Pen Avram

Left for dead in Zurich, is this the end for Kroupa and Benoît? The horrors of the past have come back to life and at the centre of it all is the Mona Lisa. With Hendrych left in the dark, and Kroupa nowhere to be found, it looks as though evil plans laid down over a hundred years ago may finally be realised.
In 1911 the Mona Lisa disappeared. Two year’s later she was returned to the Louvre, but not before she had turned the art world on its head. Rumours of copies emerged, and other versions of the painting were revealed at museums in Spain, the United States, and in a Swiss bank vault; all claiming to be by the great master, Leonardo da Vinci. Kroupa and Hendrych uncover a conspiracy, which dates back to the original theft. As they get closer and closer to the truth, they find themselves caught up in a web of intrigue involving former dictators and regimes, all keen to get their hands on most famous painting in the world.
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Kroupa needs a holiday, so an invitation to a premiere in Bordeaux comes at just the right time. However, 'in vino veritas' and the region's vineyards soon reveal that the sins of the past still have devastating ramifications to this day. If Kroupa was hoping to avoid a murder, he's in for a disappointment, and this time the stakes are very high!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Pen Avram
• Release date: Aug 9, 2015
• ISBN: 9781311984951

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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A LITERARY TRIPTYCH

by Pen Avram

PUBLISHED BY:

Pen Avram on Smashwords

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Copyright 2015 Text-Author - Pen Avram

Copyright 2015 ArtDesign Author Pen Avram

The author and the artwork designer assert the moral rights to

be identified as the author and designer of this work,

Contact: mailto:[e-mail]

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

THE ISLEWORTH SMILE

The Isleworth Smile is a two-part mystery, based on characters created by Pen Avram and combining historical fact with rumour and speculation to create a thrilling adventure that will leave readers on the edge of their seats until the very end.

THE ISLEWORTH SMILE Part 1

Chapter 1 - Unwanted Guests

Chapter 2 - Enter Hendrych

Chapter 3 - Copies

Chapter 4 - Isleworth

Chapter 5 - 550km away

Chapter 6 - A Lesson in Art appreciation

THE ISLEWORTH SMILE PART 2

Chapter 1 - Paris 1911

Chapter 2 - Seeing double

Chapter 3 - Mona Lisa comes home

Chapter 4 - Hendrych has a nightmare

Chapter 5 - Shanghai surprise

Chapter 6 - The Rainbow tour

Chapter 7 - At the end of the Rainbow

Chapter 8 - Teyu Cuare

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ST.EMILION'S SECRET

Chapter 1 - Kroupa takes a break

Chapter 2 - Kroupa is late

Chapter 3 - The Show doesn't go on

Chapter 4 - Have an Armagnac

Chapter 5 - Missing

Chapter 6 - Back at the Cap

Chapter 7 - St.Emilion

Chapter 8 - The Dune

Chapter 9 - Alkaev's powers of diplomacy

Chapter 10 - St.Emilion's secret

Chapter 11 - Old Friends

THE ISLEWORTH SMILE Part 1

The repercussions of a 1911 art theft are still being felt today. As Kroupa and Hendrcyh finds 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?

Chapter 1 – UNWANTED GUESTS

Kroupa was sitting in the living room of his home, enjoying a rare evening in familial company. His dizstant 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 in what was otherwise one of the most woeful approximations of the Louvre ever caught on film.

As the end titles rolled, Kroupa said, Time for bed Martin.

His nephew suggested that they watch the special features on the DVD first, but Kroupa was adamant, You have a long day tomorrow. BED!

Oh alright then, Martin muttered, Good night Sara! And with that he disappeared to the study-cum-guest room that Kroupa had put together for his nephew’s visit.

Special features? he chuckled to himself and reached over to pick up the DVD. It was then that he noticed something rather strange… the DVD packaging looked somewhat faded. He pulled the printed sheet of paper out from under the plastic sleeve and realized that it had indeed been photocopied. No doubt about, this was looking increasingly like a bootleg!

He was surprised that his own nephew would be in possession of something like this, especially since he knew that Martin had been buying the DVD releases for years, building up a sizable collection that he was extremely proud of. As he pondered the origins of the DVD, he realized that something was rattling inside.

That’s odd… the DVD’s still in the player.

Kroupa opened up the DVD case to find another disc inside, but it had no markings, no writing, nothing; it was just a regular re-writable DVD-rom that you could buy at any supermarket. Kroupa ejected the DVD, with the ‘Doctor Who’ episode they’d just watched, to discover that the label had also been photocopied onto a sticker and glued onto a similar disc.

Kroupa walked out into the hallway and knocked on the door of Martin’s makeshift bedroom.

Uh-huh? came the teenager’s singularly eloquent reply.

Kroupa opened the door and asked, Where did you get that DVD?

I didn’t.

Kroupa was bemused. What do you mean you didn’t? It didn’t just materialize here by itself.

And maybe it did. Martin egged Kroupa on.

Martin, I’m serious! Where did you get that DVD.

Martin, recognizing the tone in his uncle’s voice, replied, It was on the coffee table when I came back from the conference today. I thought you’d bought it for me.

A chill came over Kroupa, but he tried to hide his concern from Martin.

It was for me wasn’t it? Martin asked sheepishly, sensing that something was up.

Yes, yes… I hope you liked it, Kroupa replied, forcing a smile.

It was great… thanks, Martin seemed relieved.

Trying not to draw attention to himself, Kroupa quickly glanced across the room to check that the window was locked and wished his nephew a good night.

Closing the door, he quickly called to Sara and held the DVD case out for her to sniff. Once she was on the scent, it didn’t take her long to lead Kroupa downstairs to the basement, where they discovered that the old hatch for loading stores had been pried open.

Good God! Kroupa quickly set about resealing the hatch from the inside, while Sara searched the rest of the house from top to bottom. There was nothing to be found and no trace that anyone had been anywhere other than the living room, where they’d obviously left the DVD.

Kroupa was no stranger to danger, but in his own home and with his nephew staying, he couldn’t help but feel a sense of dread. However, with no lead to follow and no immediate present danger, Kroupa decided he’d inform his colleagues the following morning. Someone had wanted to leave a message, and they’d done so loud and clear, but there was nothing to indicate that their lives were in danger.

With the house searched, he and Sara returned to the living room. Kroupa stared at the disc on the coffee table. He was a little unwilling to play it, for fear of finding something decidedly unpleasant that would necessitate the immediate involvement of the police at such a late hour in the evening.

Realizing just how unreasonable he was being, Kroupa took a deep breath and inserted the DVD. Sitting back on the sofa with Sara by his side, he pressed ‘play’ on the remote control.

The scene that greeted him made him sit up at once and take notice. It was clearly footage from a security camera and the setting was the unmistakable interior of safe room in a bank. The image had the unmistakable grey-blue tinge that one saw on crime-scene investigation programs on television or CCTV footage shown during the news bulletins. For the longest time nothing happened and Kroupa was beginning to wonder just how long he and Sara would have to stare at the rows of safe deposit boxes, when all of a sudden a man appeared. He stood with his back to the camera, opening one of the larger safe deposit boxes. Pulling out the large box inside, he turned around and carried it to the table in the centre of the room. There, he pulled another key out of his pocket and unlocked it, raising the lid slightly. Then, all of a sudden, he looked straight at the camera.

Kroupa stifled a yelp. It was as if the man was looking directly at him. He didn’t have the look of someone surprised to discover they were being monitored. Quite the contrary, the look was unmistakably that of someone beckoning; inviting you to look on. And that was exactly what Kroupa did. He wasn’t sure, why, but he was convinced the man was German. In fact, he couldn’t help thinking that