Falzum – Ludva Roman (2012)

Five extensive detective stories, several murders among artistic artifacts that connect not only motifs but also two central characters. Josef Rambousek and Kryštof Fridrich, two quite different detectives – one an intellectual from a café, the other a villager from the mountains. The former loves art, while the latter loves trains. They first meet in front of a church where a dead priest has been found, and something seems to be wrong with its Gothic bell. Their subsequent cases lead them into the world of the art elite, auction houses, private collections, and studios. It is here that both detectives investigate who murdered a famous curator, who strangled a girl with an Art Deco figurine of a pelican, or whether the author of the drawings of young girls appearing in Prague just as the body of a well-known painter is found is truly Velázquez. Along with them, we discover that while art can express a desire for perfection, the art world is certainly not perfect. Rambousek and Fridrich gradually penetrate a world full of lies, intrigues, and crimes, while also getting to know each other. And each has their secrets.