- Paperback: 256 pages
- Publisher: Harper; 1 edition (Jun 27 2007)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0007229186
- ISBN-13: 978-0007229185
- Product Dimensions: 19.2 x 13 x 2.2 cm
- Shipping Weight: 181 g
- Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #338,589 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
This playful satire of the squabbling international art scene and the Italian police bureaucracy reunites volcanic beauty Flavia de Stefano of the Italian National Art Theft Squad, and diffident British art dealer Jonathan Argyll, who first met in The Raphael Affair. Set in Venice and first published by Gollancz in 1991, the tale opens with the murder of American art historian Louise Masterson, a member of the scholarly international Titian Committee, who is found stabbed to death in a bed of lilies at the Giardinetti Reali. Then the elegant, reputedly incorruptible British art collector Tony Roberts drowns in a canal, and French art philosopher Georges Bralle is discovered suffocated in his home in France. Affection blooms between Flavia and Jonathan as they probe current affairs and Titian's paintings for clues to the killings and the answer to a question about the painter's life. Pears, who has a doctorate in art history from Cambridge, writes with a Beerbohm-like wit.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
This second title in a series maintains the high standards of the first ( The Raphael Affair , Harcourt, 1992), once again appealing to art history buffs. When a murderer strikes down an American member of the prestigious Titian Committee in Venice, General Taddeo Bottando of Rome's art-theft squad dispatches special assistant Flavia to gather information. What begins as a simple political mission becomes a dangerous quest for a missing portrait attributed to Titian. Enlisting the aid of art dealer Jonathan Argyll, Flavia never hesitates to call a spade a spade, but she tempers her judgment with theory. Most enjoyable.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most helpful customer reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
The Titian Committee More About Place than Plot,
By
This review is from: The Titian Committee (Mass Market Paperback)
Iain Pears lives up to his modern day Agatha Christie title with a particular twist on writing about beautiful places. In fact, great places are the focus of his Art History Mystieries series, like Paris, London, Rome, and lots more of Rome, Los Angeles and other five star places like that. As far as the murder mystery in each book's plot, like "The Titian Committee", the story is as much about Venice (place) and how this high brow Titian committee credentials master works than it is about the dead body discovered in the first chapter. Reading a Pears novel isworth challenging a few college credits in art history, only tons more fun. Still, even with the "opposites attract" characters of the often morose Jonathon Argyle, who lives up to his very predictable last name, and his risk taking love Gloria Di Stafano, "The Titian Committee" isn't quite as memorable as the other books in this effervecent mystery series. Sometimes, the plot becomes just too cumbersome to make sense. Nevertheless, I wouldn't want to miss reading it, if only to keep up with the lively antics of the hero and heroine- especially, to find out if they ever plan on taking their relationship beyond the Panda bear dance they play out in their comic/drama experiences. Overall, "The Titian Committee" does not stand alone in The Art History Mysteries, but it's a good link with the others. "The Raphael Affair" is still the best in the series with "Death and Restoration" a close second. Of course, it will likely be a long time before another book will compare with the intellectual stimulation of "An Instance of the Fingerpost", a first rate Pears mystery, but not in the line up of the Art History Mysteries series.
2.0 out of 5 stars
An Instance of Authorial Disinterest?,
By schapmock (New York, New York) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Titian Committee (Mass Market Paperback)
A murder mystery set in Venice, revolving around art history, featuring two immensely appealing sleuths -- what could be bad?Somehow, most everything aside from the two lead characters. Flavia and Johnathan are witty and charming throughout. But Venice never comes across, the mystery lies flat on the page in a serious of increasingly tedious interviews with stick figure supporting characters, and the art history element remains a barely there bit of background color. Pears is a very talented writer, his An Instance of the Fingerpost an ambitious and vastly entertaining historical novel. Is he just no longer interested in these slight mysteries?
3.0 out of 5 stars
I just don't care,
By
This review is from: The Titian Committee (Mass Market Paperback)
I gave this yawner three stars simply due to the setting. I love Venice. That,however, is where my interest in this little volume ends. I could not bring myself to care, positively or negatively, about any of the characters. I found myself more interested in what they ordered for lunch or dinner than in the "plot". Perhaps, to be fair, I should have read an earlier installation of the adventures of Flavia et al prior to this one. Maybe...but I think not. I would suggest the potential reader skip this one and opt for one of the Donna Leon mysteries instead.
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