Art Forgery, Fraud, and "The Raphael Affair"

Iain Pears is a writer who manages to take the arcane and difficult and often confusing world of art forgery and art fraud and turn it into a fascinating subject - not to mention a fine mystery story. "The Raphael Affair" is the first in a series of mysteries by Pears to feature General Bottando, the head of the Italian National Art Theft Squad, his assistant, Flavia di Stefano, and a British art historian (student in this novel) named Jonathan Argyll.

In "The Raphael Affair," first published in 1992, the three become involved in trying to unravel a complicated and thoroughly enjoyable plot involving smuggling, fraudulent paintings, vandalism, arson - oh, yes, and murder. While there are classic puzzle elements, this really isn't a straightforward mystery; too many of the clues are withheld until General Bottando sums up the solution for us. But there are a great many twists and turns and surprises to the plot - enough, certainly, to keep readers off-balance, even as we enjoy ourselves. Pears is an art historian, and he manages to make the convoluted mechanics of art fraud understandable to the lay reader. I hadn't read anything by Pears until my wife and a friend both suggested I try him. I'm glad I did.

Comments

[Jules]

You should try "An Instance of the Fingerpost" by the same author. If you can solve that one, you must be a mighty detective, because its told from the point of view of four different characters and none of them is too reliable.

[Les Blatt]

I've heard very good things about that book, but I haven't had a chance to read it yet. I think my wife has it; I'll get to it in the near future. Thanks!