The Art Forger / B. A. Shapiro / 355 pages

Readers are quickly drawn into the arrogant and shady side of the art world in this novel about a young, very talented but starving artist, Claire Roth, who makes her living creating forgeries for a company that legitimately sells them as copies of famous paintings.  Claire has been unfairly ostracized by the art world when she is approached by a famous gallery owner who asks her to copy a famous stolen Degas painting in a very squishy feeling deal in return for getting a one woman show in his gallery.  Readers get good insight into the "art" of creating forgeries that can pass for the real thing plus some historical background on Degas and his paintings.  Well done and intriguing.