The Immaculate Deception by Iain Pears
New art-history mystery from the acclaimed author of the best-selling literary masterpiece An Instance of the Fingerpost. 'Superior entertainment' Allan Massie, Scotsman When an important, politically sensitive painting is kidnapped in Rome, Flavia di Stefano, acting head of the Italian Art Theft Squad, is told to get it back at all costs -- without causing any embarrassment to the country and without paying the ransom. Put in an impossible position, she turns for help to her old mentor General Taddeo Bottando, who casts a wholly unexpected light on the crime. In the meantime, her husband, English art historian Jonathan Argyll, embarks on an investigation of his own. As a gift to Bottando, he decides to establish the provenance of a small Renaissance painting, an Immaculate Conception, currently hanging on the wall of the general's apartment. Absorbing and ingeniously plotted, The Immaculate Deception is both a fascinating art-history puzzle and a gripping murder mystery as the search for the truth uncovers shocking secrets from the past and leads Argyll and Flavia into the path of some very dangerous enemies indeed.
'Pears is that rare bird: a crime writer who can grip without gore' Jane Jakeman, Independent 'An intricately plotted, entertaining murder mystery' Peter Guttridge, Observer Review 'The writing is graceful, the characters are people in whose company it would be a delight to pass an eveningAnd Pears gives a rich sense of what it is to live in raddled, ever-glorious Rome' Donna Leon, Sunday Times
Iain Pears won the Getty Scholarship to Yale University and then worked for Reuters in Rome. He is the author of The History of Modern Painting, in addition to An Instance of the Fingerpost and six Italian-based crime novels, and lives with his wife and child in Oxford.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780006511113 |
| ISBN 10 | 0006511112 |
| Title | The Immaculate Deception |
| Author | Iain Pears |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | HarperCollins Publishers |
| Year published | 2001-07-02 |
| Number of pages | 288 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |