The Blood of Art by John A. MacEachern

The Blood of Art is an international thriller based on a young man, Tom Adams, from Appalachia finding a valuable work of art hidden between the walls of a house he is renovating. When he takes it to America's largest and most prominent gallery specializing in early American art he find gallery founder and philanthopist , Robert Creighton, bludgeoned to death behind his desk. Meanwhile, Maunders, a disfiggured and handicapped loner, living in a one room walk up flat on the Lower East Side of Manhattan finds himself fencing stolen fine art for the New york Mafia to the wealthiest and influential leaders in the world, including to a couple of senior officials in the U.S. government.