The Mourner (1963) – Pocket Books

A Parker Job (#4)

___“You want me to steal a statue,” Parker said, and Bett laughed again.
___“I want you to understand the background,” Harrow answered unhappily. “It is important that you understand the background.”
___“Why?”
___“Dear Dad’s a romantic,” said Bett, with honeyed venom in her smile.
___Parker shrugged. He didn’t care what the Harrow family thought of each other.
___“These statuettes, eight-two of them, were made for the tomb of John the Fearless and Philip the Good, Dukes of Burgundy,” Harrow said. “John was murdered in 1419, but not before ordering the tomb to be built. Philip was his son, and survived till 1467, when he–”
___“The statues,” Parker said.
___“Yes. The statues. They are sixteen inches high, made of alabaster, and were placed in the niches at the base of the two memorials. No two of them are precisely alike, and they all express an attitude of mourning. Every possible variation on mourning, both true and false. There are monks, priests, choirboys– Well. At any rate, they are priceless. And at the time of the French Revolution, many of them were stolen or lost. At the present time, seventy-four of the statuettes are still in Dijon; some were always there, others have been found and returned. Of the remaining eight, one is owned by a private collector in France, two by a private collector in this country, in Ohio, and two are in the Cleveland Museum. The other three mourners are still missing.”
___Harrow closed the book but kept his finger in place. “That’s what this article would have told you,” he said, “and just as quickly as I have told it to you.”
___Parker waited, controlling his impatience. None of this was necessary. Harrow wanted a statue stolen, that was the point. If the job looked easy enough, and if the price was right, he might do it. Otherwise, no. All this talk was a waste of time.
___But Harrow wasn’t finished yet. “Now, for you to understand what I want, and why I want it, you must understand something about me.”
___“Why?”

Buy it here:

Pocket Books, 1963 (PB)
Gregg Press, 1981 (HC)
Mysterious Press, 2001 (PB)
University of Chicago Press, 2009 (PB)
E-Book, 2010
Audio Book, 2011