Written with imagination, and a very tight plot with surprises worthy of O. Henry, this book delights the reader-at least this one. One might think that pages of description, nay, precise instructions, for making an ink that would have been made in the 1700's, or making a type of paper, or wiring a screen which will produce the exact watermark on that paper needed for a forgery might be boring: instead, those pages are fascinating. Throw in a light touch of humor such as the following in describing a forged letter supposedly written by France's Louis XVI: "The forgery, dated some years before the revolution robbed both him and his wife of their heads, was made. . . ."
There is vocabulary to learn, but one becomes hungry for the specifics that will "prove" the authenticity of the autograph. "Autograph" is used here in a way specific to the subject matter, for instance. There is plenty of suspense as the story proceeds, and sometimes we are given a "heads up" for a turn in the plot: "As it turned out, his intuition was right and Forger's decision to visit La Vegas proved to be a grievous mistake."
Even people who know nothing about music will love this book. Mozart aficionados should gobble it up.