The Uccello Connection is the 10th book in the Genevieve Lenard series by Estelle Ryan. It is set in Strasbourg, France, where Dr. Genevieve Lenard is a world-renowned nonverbal communications expert for Rousseau and Rousseau, an exclusive insurance company. Jenny also has high-functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder. Along with her team - Colin Frey, an art expert working with Interpol and former art thief, Colonel Manfred Millard of the European Defense Agency, Francine, one of the world's best hackers, Vinnie, a bodyguard type, and others - she helps to solve art-related crimes worldwide, as frequently requested by Interpol or the President of France.

In this book, the team is still after Ivan Fradkov, who managed to elude them in the last book where they saved the lives of several world leaders. A man linked to Fradkov is assassinated while talking to Jenny and Francine while they are eating lunch in a public restaurant, and a member of their team is kidnapped while on his way to speak at a convention. The father of a man assumed to be working with Fradkov receives a crudely drawn replica of a Paolo Uccello painting from his son, and Colin and Jenny realize that it contains clues that may help them find and take down Fradkov.

After the seventh or eighth book of this series, I was starting to find them a little formulaic. I was slightly hesitant to read The Uccello Connection because I was a little tired of reading about the same old thing and felt that the ninth book was only okay. However, I seemed to enjoy this book much more than the last. Perhaps because I read all of the other books in a row, and hadn't read one for a little while, or because there was something different about this book, I found myself keep picking it up to find out what was going to happen. The author has done a fair job of letting us get to know Genevieve Lenard, but some of the other characters on her team are a little flat and one-dimensional. Perhaps that's not a problem because the action focuses mainly around Jenny, but it might be fun to have a book written from the perspective of one of the other characters.

If you are interested in this book, I recommend starting at the beginning of the series The Gauguin Connection or at least with the previous novel The Vecellio Connection which would make more sense. Another upside, if you are interested in art, you will learn a little more about a particular artist in each of her books, and can also learn more on her website about different artists and also works by Mozart. ( )

Roxy comes home and tells Jenny that another man, a Russian had died in her clinic of polonium poisoning, he is a friend of the Russian consulate and is working on an art exhibition. Then Jenny and Colin learn that Daniel,, their GIPN contact was flying on a plane that has disappeared with a large quantity of missing original paintings.

Once, again they need to solve a combination of cases.

This was not a favorite story, it felt a little forced and far-fetched.
Though I did like that they added a couple of new characters to the mix. ( )