
Dakota is a great character and Svetlana, who speaks seven languages and is a chess master, his sidekick, a hoot.
I enjoyed the first seven-eighths of the book but lopped off a star for the ending that became the standard Lone Ranger and Tonto (albeit with a great body) stave off swarming hoards of enemy. It's only a wonder clouds of angels weren't singing Hallelujahs from the heavens. Well, perhaps I exaggerate some. Let's just say my crap-detector went into emergency overload. The plot was good involving art forgeries and stolen paintings, suitably intricate; the characters interesting,and Orcut had a chance to resolve it in a much more interesting way. But it's his first book. I'll certainly read the next.
P.S. Librarians play a central role in unraveling the threads of the mystery.