Iain Pears Immaculate Deception

Immaculate Deception

Iain Pears

Scribner, May 2005, $13.00, 224 pp.

ISBN: 0743272412

Prime Minister Antonio Sabauda guaranteed the safety of the Claude Lorraine masterpiece, on loan from the Louvre. Alas museum security and art thieves obviously misunderstood the PM as the painting is stolen. Desperate to recover the stolen painting, but without the media and consequently the public knowing, Sabauda assign acting chief of the Rome Police Department's art theft squad with recovering the lost art.

The government cannot pay the ransom demands as that would break Italian law that is very clear that kidnappers are not to receive ransom money. Like magic an anonymous package containing the exact amount of Euros arrives. A bit surprised by the appearance of the cash, Flavia is further shocked to learn that the thief Maurizio Sabbatini drowned in a tub of plaster with the time of death occurring before he made the ransom demand. While Flavia struggles with her case wondering if the PM is pulling a stunt or perhaps her retired mentor General Taddeo Bottando, her spouse Jonathan Argyll looks into the stealing of the Immaculate Conception painting four decades ago. Neither realized the link between the thefts, but they better soon as more corpses follow the death of Sabbatini.

IMMACULATE DECEPTION provides intriguing varying perspectives of the Italian art world especially from the husband-wife team, the PM, the museum that lost the painting, and the thief, etc. The who-done-it is somewhat convoluted and difficult to follow as the connections between the art thefts seem more like a nebulous version of the DNA helix. Still it is fun to follow Flavia and Jack struggle to solve art mysteries four decades apart and a murder too while their right and wrong morality is challenged as never before.

Harriet Klausner