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.

The Last Judgement

Le comité Tiziano

dans son bureau de florence, le général bottando, chef du service de la protection du patrimoine artistique, rumine de sombres pensées.
 son autorité est bafouée depuis quelques mois par l'insupportable argan, personnage aussi influent qu'antipathique qui n'a qu'une idée en tête, prendre sa place ! c'est dans ce contexte houleux que réapparaît l'ombre de l'énigmatique giotto, soupçonné par bottando d'être un génial voleur de tableaux opérant en toute impunité depuis... trente ans ! étonnante théorie que personne ne prend très
au sérieux, sauf l'enquêtrice flavia di stefano, bien décidée à venir en aide à son chef en réalisant un coup de filet historique.
 à la demande de celle-ci, son fiancé, le marchand d'art jonathan argyll, va profiter d'un voyage professionnel en angleterre pour obtenir des informations... charme italien et humour britannique n'ont jamais fait aussi bon ménage que sous la plume allègre et érudite du maître iain pears.

Le mystere giotto

L'énigme San Giovanni

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'.

 Membership of the prestigious Titian Committee is normally considered a high honour. Normally, that is, until two of its members end up dead and someone seems to be taking the idea of backstabbing a little too far.

 Flavia de Stefano of Rome's Art Theft Squad is sent to find out why. She calls upon the help of dealer Jonathan Argyll, in Venice to buy a picture from the Marchesa di Mulino. But the sudden theft of the Marchesa's collection sets Flavia and Jonathan on a tortuous trail to uncover the truth.

 A further death threatens the very survival of the Committee itself, as well as offering the tantalizing possibility of an undiscovered Titian - a mysterious composition that may have been suppressed for 'moral' reasons..

The Titian Committee

Oxford, années 1660 : un lieu et une période de grande effervescence intellectuelle et politique. Robert Grove, professeur à New College, meurt dans des conditions suspectes. Une jeune fille, Sarah Blundy, fille d'un soldat de Cromwell et d'une guérisseuse, est accusée du meurtre. Quatre témoins vont relater les circonstances de cette mort : un médecin vénitien ; le fils d'un royaliste accusé de trahison ; un mathématicien cryptographe qui a travaillé successivement pour Cromwell et Charles II ; un célèbre érudit d'Oxford. Chaque témoin va donner sa version des faits... un seul révélera l'incroyable vérité.Véritable plongée dans la conscience d'une époque, Le Cercle de la Croix est un thriller historique passionnant, dont les multiples coups de théâtre et rebondissements tiennent le lecteur en haleine jusqu'à la dernière page. Déjà acclamé comme un chef-d'oeuvre en Angleterre, en cours de publication dans le monde entier, ce roman est appelé à devenir un événement éditorial international.

Le Cercle de la Croix

Our Review
When in RomeA stolen masterpiece with arcane allegorical significance; a decades-old political kidnapping and murder; and, of course, a tantalizing artwork of unknown provenance -- in his seventh Jonathan Argyll art mystery, The Immaculate Deception, English art historian Iain Pears returns with a virtuosic display of ingenious plotting and literary trompe l'oeil.Pears's clever and effortlessly erudite art mysteries have found a select readership on both sides of the Atlantic. But the phenomenal success of Pears's 1998 literary thriller, An Instance of the Fingerpost -- a multifaceted Restoration whodunit on a par with Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose -- has dramatically increased stateside interest in the author's earlier work. The Immaculate Deception once again centers on the exploits of the affable and perpetually distracted English art dealer Jonathan Argyll; the beautiful and formidable Flavia di Stefano of the Italian Art Theft Squad; and hererstwhile boss, General Taddeo Bottando, along with several of the series' usual -- or, more appropriately -- unusual supporting cast of suspects.When a masterpiece on loan for the opening of an international exhibition is stolen in a manner calculated to embarrass the Italian government, Flavia di Stefano is ordered by the newly installed prime minister to recover the painting at all costs. Her deceptively simple mandate quickly reveals itself to be a politically fraught, no-win situation. If is she meets the thief's ransom demands, she'll almost certainly be disgraced -- and perhaps go to jail; if she refuses the order, she'll be summarily removed from her post. With Jonathan jaunting through the Tuscan countryside on the trail of an interesting art collection, Flavia turns to her oldfriend and confidant General Bottando for advice. As a seasoned survivor of the Roman political arena himself, he suggests that she follow the time-honored convention and do as other Romans: "When faced with deviousness, you must be devious yourself."Working together, Flavia and Bottando devise a plan to recover the painting. But no sooner has the ransom been paid than the art-napper -- a former '60s radical turned bourgeois performance artist -- is found dead under highly suspicious circumstances. Worse, Bottando himself has disappeared without a trace, leaving Flavia to face her first major crisis as head of the ArtSquad alone. Risking official censure and hounded by a sinister journalist, Flavia explores the tenuous connection between a decades-old act of terrorism and recent events, only to discover a secret conspiracy that could topple the government -- or cost her her life.Like Michael Dibdin's award-winning Aurelio Zen novels, Pears's Jonathan Argyll mysteries go beyond genre fundamentals to immerse readers in every aspect of contemporary Italian culture -- from its legendary art and cuisine to the labyrinthine bureaucracy of the political and criminal justice systems to candid, unexpectedly breathtaking portrayals of everyday life. The Immaculate Deception is a splendid addition to a mystery series of the first order, and an exuberant confirmation of Iain Pears as a modernmaster of the form.
  --Greg Marrs

Le secret de la vierge à l'enfant

Clever Italian art-history crime series featuring scholar and dealer Jonathon Argyll, from the author of the best-selling masterpiece 'An Instance of the Fingerpost'.

 The hardest part of being an art dealer is having to sell your beloved works. For Jonathan Argyll, the pain is soothed when an American billionaire agrees to pay a vast sum for a relatively minor piece.

 Arriving in the Californian sunshine eager to collect his cheque, Jonathan bumps into one of his less scrupulous colleagues, and discovers he is not the American's only seller. A bust of Pope Pius V is being smuggled out of Italy, and trouble is following in its wake.

 Within hours, Jonathan's billionaire is dead and both the smuggler and his bust have gone missing. Thinking things can't get any worse, Jonathan calls for the help of the Italian Art Theft Squad - and instead finds himself the killer's next target.

The Last Judgement

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