Product Description

Clever and witty art history-mystery featuring scholar and sleuth Jonathon Argyll, from the author of the bestselling masterpiece 'An Instance of the Fingerpost'. A tip-off without any names and a theft with no obvious motive -- these are the apparently innocuous matters currently in the hands of Flavia di Stefano of Rome's Art Theft Squad. Flavia is able to disturb the looters of the monastery in San Giovanni but not catch them. And it's a good thing that nothing valuable was stolen because neither she nor art dealer Jonathan Argyll have a clue who the culprits were. Maybe the truth lies with the item they did get away with -- not the disputed Caravaggio the monastery is known for, but a curious icon of the Madonna that is said to have strange powers. Such claims are pure folklore, surely! but then a connection is made to a French dealer found floating in the Tiber a few days later and suddenly things don't seem so frivolous. Perhaps the icon was what the thieves wanted -- and is it possible that its powers are miraculous enough to kill for?

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #43948 in Books
• Published on: 2007-07-02
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

Review
Praise for 'Death and Restoration': 'Pears's tremendous affection for Rome comes through strongly in the book, making the city one of the most engaging characters' Sunday Times 'Iain Pears writes delightfully witty, elegant, well-informed crime novels' The Times 'You don't have to know much about art to enjoy Iain Pears's Italian mysteries. Like a good teacher he shares his passion unobtrusively and flavours his lessons with wit.' Val McDermid Praise for 'The Portrait': 'A wonderful, grimly entertaining novel.' Sunday Telegraph 'A revenge fantasy to relish.' Independent on Sunday 'Genuinely creepy.' The Times 'An exquisite miniature that explores the roles of artist and critic with wit and gore.' Evening Standard 'This is an atmospheric tour de force of historical writing, as it is of narrative skill.' Independent 'Taut, disturbing!full of interesting observations about the late nineteenth -- and early twentieth-century art world!mesmerising.' Spectator

About the Author
Iain Pears is a journalist and art historian. After several years working for Reuters, he went to Yale University to complete his book, The Discovery of Painting, which was published by Yale University Press in 1988. He now lives in Oxford.

Customer Reviews

Entertaining reading
The author's obvious interest in art makes for an exciting twist on the ordinary crime story, and his beautiful descriptive use of Rome makes the perfect setting. As the plot unfolds inside a Roman monastary the pace is maintained and the twists are numerous. Based around the theft of a painting, the Roman Art Theft Squad and the valiant attempts of a British art historian to assist, weave together the modern crime with far from predictable motivations, and Rome's extensive history. For a crime novel this is enjoyable stuff, not the best of the series, but very readable - a perfect way to pass the afternoons of a British summer.

A good read, but he's written better.
This is my third Pears, and I preferred the previous two. I felt "Death and Restoration: contained some dangling ends and incongruous bits, but to go into too much detail might give away too much story. In the end everything fits, but I felt that someone had used sandpaper on my suspended disbelief.