Publisher's Weekly interviews comedian/actor/writer/musician Steve Martin about his latest novel, An Object of Beauty. The book centers on the art trade in New York City during the "gold rush" days around the new millenium. It's the end of an era.

The main character, an ambitious art dealer named Lacey Yeager, has a "quaint morality, a narcissistic personality," says Martin. "Her ascension to the highest tiers of the city parallel the soaring heights - and, at times, the dark lows - of the art world and the country from the late 1990s through today," writes the publisher.

PW: You collect art, so does this story come out of your own experience?

SM: I wanted to write about two things: the art world, and this character. And conveniently they came together. I did very little research except in my own brain. I did research the contemporary art world and interviewed some gallery owners. It’s a mystery to me the way that contemporary art galleries function.

Read more in Publisher's Weekly.