Art Basel has become one of the most popular—and talked about—events in Miami Beach with its mission to sell works of established and emerging artists.

The for-profit, privately owned and managed, international art fair also is held annually in Basel, Switzerland, and Hong Kong.

But the Miami Beach version seems to have garnered the most publicity. Especially this year when a so-called artist stuck a banana to wall using duct tape and put a price tag of $125,000 on it.

And then another so-called performance artist came along and ate the banana. He left the duct tape.

I say so-called artists because this all seemed just silly to me. Don’t try to tell me this is art.

It’s publicity and silliness, and yes, I am being judgmental about it.

I appreciate art that pushes the boundaries and makes us think.

But come on, a banana?

This art stunt got me to thinking about mysteries that revolve around the art world. And there are many. One of my favorites is Jonathan Santlofer’s debut novel The Death Artist and his fourth novel Anatomy of Fear.

One of the newest novels to explore the art world is Fake Like Me by Barbara Bourland.

Read my review online here.