Giotto's Hand

General Bottando, head of the Art Theft Squad in Rome, is being challenged by an incoming bureaucrat, someone who uses the squad’s spotty conviction rate to suggest the General is old and out of touch and needs to be replaced - by him, of course. He is using information found in old files that suggest that General Bottando believes in a Master Thief who has stolen many important paintings over the years without leaving any trace of his or her identity; the General, of course, enjoys playing with that idea but doesn’t actually *believe* it. However, when an old woman comes forward declaring that an art dealer 30 years earlier had defrauded her, General Bottando sends Flavia di Stefano to check it out. In the meantime, the English show more sometime art dealer Jonathan Argyll has a quest of his own, to rural Norfolk, where he immediately stumbles upon a body - that of Flavia’s quarry, in fact. Can they, together, work out what is really going on before the General is forced out of his job?.... I am enjoying re-reading this series set in the 1990s, as it is whimsical, funny at times and gently satirizes the elevated realms of high art and its acquisition, despite the fact that there are also evil and gruesome things going on as well. This is the fifth in the series, which should be read in sequence, but I expect new readers will enjoy meeting Jonathan, Flavia and General Bottando as much as I have; recommended! show less

Has an English master-thief been picking off unrecognised paintings by great artists for the last thirty years? Nobody really thinks so, and yet, and yet ....

By far the funniest in this series, with a solution that took me by surprise at least.

I rather expected more from this having read [b:An Instance of the Fingerpost|15888|An Instance of the Fingerpost|Iain Pears|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166695893s/15888.jpg|950198], [b:The Dream of Scipio|16442|The Dream of Scipio|Iain Pears|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1309203515s/16442.jpg|2548352], and [b:The Raphael Affair|875109|The Raphael Affair|Iain Pears|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51DZ27CKSKL._SL75_.jpg|1045254]. Put bluntly I found this pedestrian for the most part. I did enjoy some of the more lively interchanges between the character but the mystery itself as well as the interplay amongst the crew in Italy left much to be desired in my opinion. However it is a nice fluffy read for summer and I suspect show more many will find this just to their tastes. show less

This is #5 (of 7) in Iain Pears' Art History Mystery series, but it's the last I read! I saved it a while, knowing that after this one, there aren't any more! Objectively, this probably isn't the best of the series,but it's a solid entry. Bottando, the director of the Art Theft Squad, has an upstart after his job, and out to discredit him and his methods. He grabs onto a dead-case file of old thefts, which Bottando had a theory about - that they might all have been the work of one mastermind, nicknamed 'Giotto' - in order to prove his point. But, coincidentally, at this point Flavia and her boyfriend Jonathan come across evidence regarding one of these thefts which seems to indicate that Bottando's wild theory might have had something show more to it after all. But can they turn up enough evidence in time to vindicate Bottando?" show less

This, number 5 in the Jonathan Argyll art history mystery series, like the other one that I've read is a light, enjoyable read - quite different from Iain Pears' more serious novels. Those who enjoy reading about art, and the contrasts between Italian and British culture, will find a pleasant, undemanding read.

Fifth in the Jonathan Argyll “art history” mysteries, another series that seems to have ended with the last book being published in 2002. Two more to go, and I’ve enjoyed each and every one of them. These feature Jonathan, an art dealer and Flavia, a detective for The Art Squad in Rome, and in this book they’re on the trail of a crooked art dealer regarding a theft that occurred thirty years earlier. The theft came to light in the confession of a dying old woman who played a minor role and wants to come clean before she meets her maker. Bottando, Flavia’s boss, is unsure whether to bother investigating, but as Flavia has business in Florence anyway, she stops by to see the old woman while Jonathan is on a trip to England to show more see his mentor for some career advice. Since he’s “in the neighborhood” he stops by to see the Englishman they think may be the thief, just in time for Jonathan to discover his dead body at the foot of his stairs, an apparent accident. But is it? Another wide-reaching trek with an interesting case that I did not solve til very near the end. Love this series, thoroughly enjoy the characters, and the little tidbits of information about art history is always fascinating too. show less

General Taddeo Bottando's triumphantly successful campaign towards the unmasking of the shadowy English art dealer, Geoffrey Forster, as the most extraordinary thief of his generation began with a letter, postmarked Rome, that turned up on his desk on the third floor of the Art Theft Department on a particularly fine morning in late July.