The Crown Conspiracy
The Crown Conspiracy
By: Connie Mann
[Fulfilled ‘A book about art’ prompt as part of Shelf Reflection’s 2024 Reading Challenge]
This book reads like a movie! Non-stop action, art forgery, heists, treasure hunts, chase scenes, and corruption.
Mann did a great job writing this book and creating a unique band of characters that I can also picture portrayed in a blockbuster movie. This book is part of a series and I’m excited to see what comes next!
The plot of this book revolves around two friends— Sophie and Lise— who together run an art gallery and a side, secret business where Sophie acts as an artist version of Robin Hood:
“She wasn’t a thief. Thieves stole things for their own gain. She replaced previously stolen artwork with expertly forged copies and returned the originals to their rightful owners.”
All of that comes to a halt when Lise’s late mother sends her a painting (1 of 3) that had been missing for 40 years. The painting was of a queen and her twin children, all three of which had died in a car accident around the same time the paintings disappeared. (Reminiscent of Princess Diana and her popularity in the public and then her tragic car accident)
The surprising appearance of the painting and the clues it supposedly holds to a treasure brings out all kinds of people out of the woodwork trying to get their hands on the priceless paintings:
including-
Laszlo who is forced to recover the paintings for an unknown employer in order to save his family’s lives.
Mac who is hired by the royal Prince himself to recover the portraits of his wife and children and find out more about the supposed accidental car accident. He becomes intrigued, enamored, and suspicious of Sophie and she becomes his little project as he deduces she must be at the center of everything.
The second plot thread revolves around Lise’s work for an organization who helps women and children. She spends a lot of time aiding the homeless encampments nearby and discovers that men are raiding these camps periodically and taking away specific looking women never to be seen again. She is determined to find out what is going on and rescue these girls from potential human trafficking.
Lise ends up getting kidnapped and Sophie is left to figure out what is going on, if the two threads are related, and to try and save her friend before the worst happens.
This book is labeled a ‘Speranza novel.’ Speranza means ‘hope,’ and is the name of a group of people with special skills who have committed to helping women and children in need.
I thought this was a really cool idea. The book begins with a prologue that takes place in 1750 showing a woman helping some captive girls escape. So this group functions a little like the historic freemasons ‘club’ in that it is widespread and secret; this particular group could also be related to the teams of people in the Oceans movies.
Members (mostly women) are identified by the speranza emblem of an anchor and a feather (“hope is an anchor for the soul”) and are willing to sacrifice to help the vulnerable— women and children— who are too often taken advantage of.
While this particular book focuses on Sophie and Lise and their encounter with the Speranza group, the series could easily focus on the ‘origin story’ of any of its core members. It provides this series with a lot of depth and avenues to take in the future.
So I liked the ‘historic group of women helping women’ aspect. I also liked the setting of this book. Mann moves the characters from Munich and Cologne, Germany to Venice. The European scenes fit nicely with the art theme and allowed for the conspiracy revolving around the royal family of Neuhansberg (fictional).
I’ve wanted to visit Venice and watch people paint, and this book re-affirmed that for me!
The art theme was fun for me (an art major). Sophie’s character reminded me a bit of Neil on White Collar as he is also a painter with forging capabilities and a loose loyalty to the law.
My main critique of this book was of the things that got a little lost:
The beginning scene draws you into the story immediately and sets the mood, but then it is pretty inconsequential to the story as a whole and not revisited in any capacity. I was hoping for a deeper connection to that night later in the book but didn’t get it.
In the end when everything culminates and the confrontations occur, I felt like we didn’t get enough explanation for everything that happened. The bad guys get caught and then we get an epilogue that takes place two months later. I would have liked more understanding on what was going on with the taken girls and for what purpose.
I wanted more info on the car accident years ago. Mac is evidently looking into that, and when he finds the car he takes lots of pictures, but then we never go back to that night to know what exactly happened or what he was supposed to have discovered about the hidden car wreckage.
This book read fast and I would have easily read 20 or more pages to get some more information.
One more tiny critique: the Speranza group really relies on secrecy and confidentiality. When Sophie demands information and they need to swear her to secrecy they say ‘Do you swear on Lise’s life?’ and she says yes. And then they divulge everything…
For one—that was too easy! For two— why would she swear on Lise’s life if the Speranza group is also trying to help Lise? Swearing on someone’s life is a silly way to assure confidentiality plus what does it even mean?! There should have been a better process for vetting people and bringing them in then saying- promise? Okay we believe you.
So where is this series headed?
I’m not sure, but like I mentioned before, there are a lot of options.
The romance in this book was pretty light. Some flirting/kissing between Mac and Sophie with hints that their relationship is just beginning, but they can’t really trust each other right now. That could be developed in future books.
I also think that Sophie’s parents’ death could become another part of a future story. They were CIA agents and Sophie wishes she knew more about their lives and their death. I think it would be cool if a future book had a mission connected to that history that brings Sophie more closure about them.
And I think we will find out more about the other Speranza members’ histories and backgrounds and what brought them into the secret group.
One last comment. Lise’s mother’s name is Irmgard. And I could not read that name in my head without picturing Jimmy Fallon saying ‘Ermahgerd!’ Every time. I think Mann should have found a different name.
Okay, I just looked it up and the name means ‘universal protection’ so I guess it’s a fitting name but it’s literally impossible for me not to say it the Fallon way.
Recommendation:
I would definitely recommend this book! There’s nothing boring about it. It’s got action, variety of good characters, cool setting, mystery, and a heart for helping the vulnerable and disadvantaged.
It is a Christian fiction, but I wouldn’t let that keep you away if you’re not used to reading that genre. Other than a clue on the painting and the overall message of hope, there really isn’t much overt ‘Christian’-stuff/talk to the book.
It’s a clean book with moral characters. It is a book people of all walks of life can enjoy even if they don’t ascribe to the Christian faith.
This is a series I plan to continue to read and I think you should too!
[Content Advisory: no swearing or sexual content]
**Received an ARC via Tyndale House Publishing in exchange for an honest review**
This book releases June 4, 2024. You can pre/order a copy of this book using my affiliate link below.
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