Amazon.com ReviewLike An Instance of the Fingerpost, Iain Pears's Death and Restoration is grounded in a richly cultured vision rife with references to European history, art, and cuisine. And, though it represents the sixth novel in Pears's Jonathan Argyll series, the author subtly informs new readers of the key relationships and the past histories of his characters within the first three chapters. Once again, Argyll and his soon-to-be wife, Flavia di Stefano, are enmeshed in the Italian art world: Flavia, as a member of the Rome police's art squad and Argyll as a professor of art history. The suspense of the novel is sustained by the careful revelation of the central art-theft plot; in turn, each major character becomes the narrative center and offers an expanded understanding of the events at San Giovanni. While Argyll is troubled over his fiancée's frequent absences just prior to their wedding, Flavia feels compelled to keep odd hours. She's certain that her old nemesis, Mary Verney, has returned to Rome with the intention of committing a major new theft. And Verney, readers soon learn, is herself in jeopardy. She must steal a Madonna icon from the monastery--despite the close scrutiny she faces from the Rome police force--because the sadistic Mikis Charanis has kidnapped Verney's granddaughter, 8-year-old Louise, and he will only release the child when Verney has acquired the artifact from San Giovanni. Underlying each character's concerns is the mystery of the Madonna itself. Why does Charanis covet this piece over the more valuable, though still dubious, Caravaggio that is also in the monastery? In the end, the novel is a perfect melding of a tightly composed mystery plot, witty dialogue, and a realistic sense of character, all flowing from an intellectual's appreciation for the finer things in life. For readers who discovered Pears's fiction through An Instance of the Fingerpost, the Argyll series--particularly Death and Restoration--offers much to satiate the need for his pleasantly baroque sensibilities. Other works in the Argyll series include The Raphael Affair, The Titian Committee, The Bernini Bust, The Last Judgement, and Giotto's Hand. --Patrick O'KelleyFrom Publishers WeeklyPears, an art historian and author of the acclaimed historical novel, An Instance of the Fingerpost (1997), imbues his light-hearted art-world mystery series set in Italy (Giotto's Hand, 1997) with an enthusiast's love of his subject. Here, Jonathan Argyll, art dealer and lecturer, and his lover, Flavia di Stefano, an officer with Rome's Art Theft Department, investigate the theft of an ancient, seemingly worthless iconic painting of the Madonna from the Monastery of San Giovanni and the apparently related attack on the head monk. As Flavia investigates the theft, she runs into legendary art thief Mary Verney, icon dealer Peter Burckhardt and Daniel Menzies, a hot-tempered art restorer who is cleaning the monastery's second-rate Caravaggio. We learn that Mikis Charanis, the power-hungry son of Mary's former lover, has kidnapped her granddaughter; release is contingent on Mary stealing the icon for him. Then Peter Burckhardt is murdered, and the police must scramble to find motive and killer. After Jonathan learns the stolen icon is "Our Lady," venerated by the people in the neighborhood for saving Rome from the plague long ago, he traces the icon's astonishing history and uncovers the monastery's unpleasant secrets. Although Flavia's suspects escape arrest, Jonathan fingers the real thief?and the motive?in an amusing finale. Pears again achieves a delicate, sure balance with a book simultaneously witty and instructive. Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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. Views: 596
The world is no longer safe, no longer thriving. It has been inherited by the diseased.The red mist spread, and humanity was infected. There was no stopping the curse once it started, and the world's population was reduced to mindless beasts. Creatures that hungered and raged for the taste of pure, uninfected flesh.Few of those remain.Ali is not one of them.Ali has been on her own for three months, hiding in the safest place she could find. Hiding from the infected freaks that she considers no longer human, as well as those that survived the outbreak. Fall is just around the corner, and finally unanswered questions drive her from her hiding grounds. She needs to find out what happened to her friends, her family, the world. She needs to find out why she's changing. She sets out on her quest for answers, traveling across the southern United States to find out what makes her different from all the others that were infected. Views: 595
Two experiences weave together to reveal an unspoken truth, a story never told. A teenager journeys to the site of an unfathomable atrocity, with a survivor in tow. Sixty years earlier, a small village comes together in the face of danger, to solidify an act of pure love. An Unspoken Truth reminds us of the human cost of war and its far reaching affects on future generations.Susie Meyers was one of the most beautiful women you ever laid eyes on. She had long wavy blonde hair and a smile that would melt any man's heart. The story begins at around midnight on October 31, 1953 Susie and her friends downed too many beers at a Halloween party. Then decided to pile into her friend Tommy's car with his friends Jack and Karen with their six packs of beer and drove down Hill Haven road. Just as they were all singing along with the radio, rain came pouring down and Tommy was having a hard time concentrating on the road because of the loud music and laughter coming from Susie and Karen in the back seat of Tommy's car. Jack was too busy handing out the beers to everyone to notice danger was on the way. Susie was the only one in the car not wearing her seat belt. The rain was really pouring down to where Tommy should have pulled off to the shoulder of the road and waited for the rain to stop before proceeding any further. Tommy just kept driving at a high rate of speed and drinking his beer when all of a sudden a driver on the other side of the road lost control of his vehicle causing Tommy's car to skid off the road and hit a tree head on. Unfortunately, Susie was the only passenger in the car that was not wearing a seat belt. Susie was ejected from the car and hit the tree head on decapitating her. Views: 591
Danald has been lost but now, at last, Rhia has found him...or has she? And what of Omron, the evil wizard who hates them both? Who of the three will live to see the morning?James Spicer is a 12 year old boy in his first year of secondary school. Everyone thinks James is weird, even his parents worry because he draws and paints such dark pictures. James has a fertile imagination and loves to create paintings of werewolves, vampires, dragons, witches, and all kinds of unbelievable creatures. At school James is bullied and labelled as one of the weirdo kids. The only person who doesn’t think James is weird is his grandpa and he died two years earlier.James is desperate to fit in but his incredible imagination involving dark creatures is not easily accepted by anyone. Daily he faces bullying at school. After one particularly dreadful day James catches his shadow stealing the light from behind his eyes. James is pulled through his bathroom mirror into an incredible fantasy underworld. There James’ journey takes him through fantastical realms of strange creatures, culminating in his meeting the King of Shadows. James’ quest is successful and he returns with a new found confidence and readiness to face life’s challenges. However once again he comes face to face by the bullies. This time, however, James is equipped with his newly honed skills to deal with his problems. Views: 591
Flavia di Stefano of Rome's Art Theft Squad and art historian Jonathan Argyll have charmed mystery readers around the world. Their latest case is baffling to the extreme, when clues from a Titian researcher's death by mugging point to murder -- and a criminal conspiracy... Views: 589
Being 12 years old, dubbed the school weirdo and threatened daily, is about all James can take, or so he thought until he is dragged through his bathroom mirror into the darkness of the shadow underworld. Why? To retrieve what was stolen from him…the light behind his eyes.James Spicer is a 12 year old boy in his first year of secondary school. Everyone thinks James is weird, even his parents worry because he draws and paints such dark pictures. James has a fertile imagination and loves to create paintings of werewolves, vampires, dragons, witches, and all kinds of unbelievable creatures. At school James is bullied and labelled as one of the weirdo kids. The only person who doesn’t think James is weird is his grandpa and he died two years earlier.James is desperate to fit in but his incredible imagination involving dark creatures is not easily accepted by anyone. Daily he faces bullying at school. After one particularly dreadful day James catches his shadow stealing the light from behind his eyes. James is pulled through his bathroom mirror into an incredible fantasy underworld. There James’ journey takes him through fantastical realms of strange creatures, culminating in his meeting the King of Shadows. James’ quest is successful and he returns with a new found confidence and readiness to face life’s challenges. However once again he comes face to face by the bullies. This time, however, James is equipped with his newly honed skills to deal with his problems. Views: 560
December 24th in war-torn and drought-stricken Muhajeria and Sharon convinces her husband to try to fix the broken village well. Jean-Marc is a busy doctor, reluctant to take time away from his patients, but disaster strikes and he must initiate a dramatic rescue. When Jean-Marc’s life hangs in the balance Sharon is filled with regrets. It just might be too late to reveal her Christmas secret.Updated cover and bibliography. COIL Extractions is a Christian Short Story Collection, Book 1, and sampling of D.I. Telbat's Christian fiction adventures and suspense. You learn that C.O.I.L., Commission of International Laborers, is an organization formed to rescue persecuted Christians in volatile countries around the world. In each of these stories, we find a unique side of service for the Lord. Included is Bonus Chapter One of bestseller Dark Liaison, a Christian Suspense Novel, Book One in The COIL Series, in which we get a peek at a COIL mission of ex-CIA Agent Corban Dowler as he uses his skills to save at-risk believers. You can now find COIL Recruits for Christ, a Short Story Collection, Book 2. We are reminded that—there is no redemption without sacrifice. Views: 548
In this luminous novel -- winner of Britain's prestigious Booker Prize -- John Berger relates the story of "G.," a young man forging an energetic sexual career in Europe during the early years of this century. With profound compassion, Berger explores the hearts and minds of both men and women, and what happens during sex, to reveal the conditions of the Don Juan's success: his essential loneliness, the quiet cumulation in each of his sexual experiences of all of those that precede it, the tenderness that infuses even the briefest of his encounters, and the way women experience their own extraordinariness through their moments with him. All of this Berger sets against the turbulent backdrop of Garibaldi and the failed revolution of Milanese workers in 1898, the Boer War, and the first flight across the Alps, making G. a brilliant novel about the search for intimacy in history's private moments. Views: 546
Ok for kids 15 to 99. I had visitors. They had come all the way from Mars for my fish finger sandwiches.The Spark That Ignites The Flame.Seventeen years ago an entire generation of aliens were sent to Earth in order to save their home planet and integrate into the human population. Now, those aliens are being hunted.Amery Jones is finally allowed to go to camp for the summer. With her best friend Lola by her side, she is expecting awesome times ahead.Unfortunately, Lochie, her charming mortal enemy and the only guy who can get under her skin, seems to have made it his mission to annoy her for the entire summer.When one of the campers goes missing, Amery finds herself teamed up with Lochie in the search mission. Now, more than ever, her alien status has to remain a secret.Also in the Project Integrate Series:Ignite (Short Prequel)UniteDivideConquerSoarRiseBroken Views: 544
Berger presents a collection of moments, each supremely vivid, that together make up a frieze of human history at the end of the millennium as well as a subtle and affecting self-portrait of their author. Using careful, intensely visual prose snapping frozen vignettes of life, these twenty-nine "photocopies" teach us about lying and self-invention, dignity and tenderness, charity and courage. Overflowing with the sights, sounds, and smells of life, Photocopies is a masterpiece from one of the most important chroniclers of our time.
From the Trade Paperback edition. Views: 542
Halloween is coming and that means The Peeper Keeper is active again. Set in Lexington, Kentucky, the supernatural is at work and it’s driving a man to his breaking point. This fast-paced thriller pulls you in and features an ending that will have you checking to make sure your doors and windows are locked. Read at your own risk.Halloween is coming and that means The Peeper Keeper is active again. Set in Lexington, Kentucky, the supernatural is at work and it’s driving a man to his breaking point. Crimes from the past are resurfacing and this time regular Joe, John Roberts, may not be able to escape with his life. This fast-paced thriller pulls you in and features an ending that will have you checking to make sure your doors and windows are locked. Read at your own risk. Views: 540
After reading the first paragraph, you may conclude that this is a book about pirates. This is not a book about pirates. Okay, there are a few pirates in the book. (Okay, there are quite a few pirates in the book.) But this is not a book that is just about pirates. It provides intimate familiarity with strong characters and a sense of sharing in their lives and adventures.Beth Bradley has a problem. Everyone is expecting her successful music executive boyfriend, Charlie, to be her date for her best friend’s wedding. There’s one hitch: Charlie doesn’t exist. Unless she can think of something fast, she’s headed for the most humiliating weekend of her life.Alex Tanner has a problem. The former Navy SEAL's search for a double agent lands him at the Kensington Hotel, and he needs a cover to finish the job. When the sexy maid of honor blackmails him into pretending to be her lover, he thinks he's been handed the solution.Except Beth has a way of stumbling into trouble, and when the man Alex is hunting starts targeting Beth, Alex has to decide between duty and the woman who has stolen his heart. Views: 537
The first account of the role Britain played in Einstein's life—first by inspiring his teenage passion for physics, then by providing refuge from the NazisIn autumn 1933, Albert Einstein found himself living alone in an isolated holiday hut in rural England. There, he toiled peacefully at mathematics while occasionally stepping out for walks or to play his violin. But how had Einstein come to abandon his Berlin home and go "on the run"? In this lively account, Andrew Robinson tells the story of the world's greatest scientist and Britain for the first time, showing why Britain was the perfect refuge for Einstein from rumored assassination by Nazi agents. Young Einstein's passion for British physics, epitomized by Newton, had sparked his scientific development around 1900. British astronomers had confirmed his general theory of relativity, making him internationally famous in 1919. Welcomed by the British people, who helped him campaign against Nazi... Views: 536
