Death and Restoration

by IainPears (Author)

• Used

  Paperback
  1999

  $3.47

  'This book dances with sunlight and colour, faded patinas and shifting standards, with humour and knowledge making easy companions' Mail on Sunday The monastery of San Giovanni has few treasures -- only a painting doubtfully attributed to Caravaggio. So Flavia di Stefano of Rome's Art Squad is surprised to receive a tip-off that a raid is being planned. The raid happens, but the thieves are disturbed and snatch the wrong painting, a curious icon of the Madonna, remarkable only for the affection in which it is held by the local population. Or is this what the thieves wanted all along? Does the legend of the icon's miraculous powers hold any clue? And who murdered the French dealer found in the Tiber soon afterwards? Flavia, with the help of English art dealer Jonathan Argyll, immerses herself in the intricacies and intrigues of monastic and police politics in an attempt to solve the double mystery, but the solution that awaits her is murkier and more complex than anyone could have known.

• Used

  Paperback
  2011

  $3.47

  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?

• New

  Paperback
  2003

  $23.03

  General Bottando can't believe his rotten luck. He has just been promoted--to a position that's heavy on bureaucratic duties-but disturbingly light on investigative responsibilities. As if that wasn't annoying enough, he's received a tip about a planned raid at a nearby monastery. He's relying on his colleague Flavia di Stefano and her art-expert fiance, Jonathan Argyll, to thwart the plot-but both are beyond baffled. The only valuable item in the monastery's art collection is a supposed Caravaggio that's currently being restored. There are no solid suspects-unless you count the endearing art thief, the flagrantly flamboyant Rottweiler of Restoration, and the strangely shady icon expert. And there's really no reason to cause an unholy uproar-until someone commits an unconscionable crime...