Synopses & Reviews
Charles Willeford, the best-selling author of
Miami Blues and
New Hope for the Dead, is a specialist in creating human monsters. In
The Burnt Orange Heresy he invented James Figueras, the psychotic prototype later to be revealed in
Miami Blues as Junior Fenger, an amoral, unrepentant killer.
Figueras is perhaps Willeford's most evil and terryfing character, as well as his most complicated villain. An art critic out to make a lasting name for himself, Figueras seeks out and finds the greatest painter in the world, the French artist Jacques Debierue, now a hermit hiding in the South Florida swamplands. Figueras is after more than the man, however he wants the work, and something more...something more horrible than any reader can imagine.
Review
"[A] novel full of genuine fun, that also makes a level statement about the art world...the ending is...stunning" The New Yorker
Review
"You will enjoy it [even if] you have never bought anything more original than a Van Gogh print." New York Times
Review
"[I]t is all that a mystery should be." Richmond Times-Dispatch
Review
"Nabakov would smile and approve." Nashville Tennesseean
Review
"Charles Willeford has written a two-edged, spartan novel that will leave the...reader shaking." Tampa Times-Tribune