The Last Judgement (Art History Mystery)

by Iain Pears

Paperback, 2002

Status

Available

Publication

Berkley (2002), 336 pages

Description

Witty Italian art-history crime series featuring English dealer Jonathan Argyll, from the author of the best-selling literary masterpiece, 'An Instance of the Fingerpost'. Paris can do strange things to a man's mind... like making him agree to an apparently harmless favour of escorting a picture to Rome. 'The Death of Socrates' is a particularly nondescript piece, so art dealer Jonathan Argyll can sympathize when its recipient refuses to accept delivery. But in an unusual twist, the same man is found dead a few hours later. Surely the painting wasn't that bad? Now caught up in a murder investigation, Jonathan recalls an attempt to steal the artwork while he was at the train station. Could this be the killer? The bodies start piling up and Jonathan must uncover the dark wartime secret at the heart of the mystery - before someone puts him out of the picture for good.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member justine
an art history mystery
LibraryThing member hemlokgang
A very enjoyable art history murder mystery! Jonathan Argyll and his lady love, Flavia, of the Art Police in Rome move between London, Paris, and Rome to solve the case. Fast-paced, betrayal and double crosses that have reached past the WWII era and French Resistance movement to present day lead
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them a chase. Good read!
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LibraryThing member VictoriaJZ
another enjoyable art mystery
LibraryThing member AltheaAnn
This is the third of Pears' "art-history mysteries" that I've read - and I really love them. British art dealer Jonathan Argyll and his girlfriend Flavia, a whiz on the Roman police's art squad, are, not surprisingly, always finding themselves mixed up in unsavory doings concerning art...
In this
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case, Jonathan agrees to deliver an unexceptional painting entitled 'The Death of Socrates' to a client as a favor to a colleague. However, when not only does someone try to steal it from him at the train station, but the client quickly ends up brutally murdered, he realizes not everything about this deal may be on the up-and-up.
A well-crafted plot, engaging and interesting characters, and well-researched details place Pears' mysteries well above average for the genre.
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Language

Original language

English
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