Jonathan Argyll Mysteries
1 primary work • 2 total works
Book 1
"Deliciously literate" (Kirkus Reviews) and filled with "articulate characters and erudite art commentary" (The New York Times Book Review), this acclaimed series of novels by Iain Pears combines art and history, literature and mystery fiction, with the same passion for detail he displayed in his New York Times bestseller An Instance of the Fingerpost. In The Raphael Affair, the first book in the series, we are introduced to Jonathan Argyll, an enthusiastic young art scholar from England who has followed his suspicions about a long-lost Raphael painting to a small church in Rome. Not only is the painting in question gone from the site, it has been swiftly purchased, restored, auctioned, and installed in Rome's National Museum. But when the recovered Raphael is just as swiftly destroyed in a fire, Argyll begins to suspect its authenticity…and the innocence of every person in its path.
By the author of the acclaimed bestseller, An Instance of the Fingerpost. When Louise Masterson, a member of the famous Titian Committee, is found stabbed to death in a Venetian public garden, General Bottando of Rome's Art Theft Squad sends Flavia di Stefano to Venice to assist the local carabinieri. But it seems they don't want her help or expertise, and are convinced a Sicilian mugger is responsible for the killing. Flavia has other ideas and calls upon the services of English art historian Jonathan Argyll, who is in Venice to buy a picture from the Marchesa di Mulino's collection. When another member of the committee is found dead and the Marchesa's collection is stolen, Flavia and Argyll follow a tortuous trail to unearth the truth behind both the killings and the theft. In the process, not only do they stumble across another murder, but come close to unravelling a mystery from Titian's own life.