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Title: Giotto's Hand (Art History Mystery) by Iain Pears ISBN: 0-425-17358-5 Publisher: Prime Crime Pub. Date: March, 2000 Format: Mass Market Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $6.50 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.08 (13 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: A nice little mystery with a cosmopolitan flavor.
Comment: Not only is this book an outstandingly enjoyable read on its own, but also, in Giotto's Hand, Jonathan Argyll and his fiance Flavia meet up with a character who is pivotal to other books of this charming series.
The struggling young art dealer Jonathan and Flavia the art cop live, of course, in Rome, the art capitol of the world. Pears not only gives the reader a beautiful feel for life in this culturally rich and layered city, but also gives a delightful study in contrasts when Jonathan is propelled by circumstances back into a small English village. As the story moves from one country to the other, the characters remain firmly and convincingly immured in the world of art dealers and art thieves - often one and the same.
Unlike so many mysteries, this is not one with an open and shut conclusion. Morality must get gently re-defined as the circumstances of real life impact the black and white facts of the crime. Although this is a relatively simple tale, and doesn't pretend to the complexity of Pears' "An Instance of the Fingerpost", this is a subtle, heart-warming and sophisticated mystery.
Rating: 3
Summary: More Mystery Than Art History
Comment: I think that the best word to describe this book would be 'pleasant'. It's a pleasant diversion, and has enough depth to keep the reader interested, but I felt something was lacking in the content by the time I finished the novel. The plot concerns a letter sent to Rome's Art Theft Squad headquarters, claiming to have information on a stolen painting from 30 years previous. This letter, written by an old woman with a checkered past, reminds General Bottando, head of the Art Theft Squad, of someone he nicknamed 'Giotto', who stole several pieces of art and got away with it. Investigating the connection could cause him potential problems, as he is being usurped by Argan, a man who wants his job. So, he surreptitiously sends Flavia, one of his assistants, to interview the woman, and this leads to Flavia sending her boyfriend, art dealer Jonathan Argyll, home to England to interview the man. However, after Jonathan makes an appointment to see the man who could be 'Giotto', he instead finds the suspect, Forster, dead in his own home. What follows is an investigation both professional (Flavia) and casual (Jonathan) to discover if Forster was indeed Giotto, and if so, what happened to the stolen art? Many of the characters are fleshed out nicely, but even though there's a nice twist at the end, the novel runs out of steam, and there's some muddled elements that seem thrown together. Bottando, Argyll, and Flavia are worth reading about again, hopefully in a deeper plot.
Rating: 3
Summary: Slump
Comment: After reading Instance of a Fingerpost, I ran out and bought three early books of this series of art mysteries. I thoroughly enjoyed the first, The Raphael Affair; however, this was a step down.
The two main characters, Flavia and Argyll, did not seem to progress from the earlier book and actually seemed somewhat flat. Too much of the book was driven by Flavia's boss's bureaucratic battles and intrigues. The plot was okay, a bit hokey.
Still, the cultural setting was very good and lifted the book from mere ordinariness.
Although not as good as the first in the series, I will read some more...I think the potential is still there and I still want to like the two main characters as much as I did in the first book. Besides, the art world scene as portrayed is interesting enough to bring me back. Also Pears writing is good. All in all, this was an amusing fairly light read.
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Title: The Last Judgement (Art History Mystery) by Iain Pears ISBN: 0425171485 Publisher: Prime Crime Pub. Date: October, 1999 List Price(USD): $6.50 |
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Title: The Bernini Bust (Art History Mystery) by Iain Pears ISBN: 0425178846 Publisher: Prime Crime Pub. Date: 06 March, 2001 List Price(USD): $6.50 |
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Title: Death and Restoration (Art History Mystery) by Iain Pears ISBN: 0425177424 Publisher: Prime Crime Pub. Date: 07 November, 2000 List Price(USD): $6.50 |
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Title: The Titian Committee by Iain Pears ISBN: 0425168956 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: May, 1999 List Price(USD): $6.50 |
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Title: The Raphael Affair by Iain Pears ISBN: 0425166139 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: November, 1998 List Price(USD): $6.50 |
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