Opening paragraphs.................................

It began with an accident, but then matters involving Julian Isherwood invariably did.  In fact, his reputation for folly and misadventure was so indisputably established that London's art world, had it known of the affair, which it did not, would have expected nothing less.  Isherwood, declared one wit from the Old Masters department at Sotheby's, was the patron saint for lost causes, a high-wire artist with a penchant for carefully planned schemes that ended in ruins, oftentimes through no fault of his own.  Consequently, he was both admired and pitied, a rare trait for a man of his position.  Julian Isherwood made life a bit less tedious.  And for that, London's smart set adored him.
-Daniel Silva,  The Heist