The Bernini Bust

First Line: Jonathan Argyll lay contentedly on a large slab of Carrara marble, soaking up the mid-morning sun, smoking a cigarette and considering the infinite variety of life.

Hapless art dealer Jonathan Argyll has delivered a Titian painting to the Moresby Museum in Santa Monica, California, and expects payment momentarily. While he's waiting he's been observing, and what he's seen makes him glad he's not connected to the private museum. The Moresby Museum has no focus, due to the whims of its billionaire owner. The curator has grandiose plans for expansion, and the billionaire's family members seem to be spending most of their time trying to plot the museum's demise, since it's cutting into their inheritance.

At a party to celebrate show more the acquisition of a Bernini statue,the billionaire is killed, and the art dealer thought to have brought the Bernini statue with him from Italy is the prime suspect. However, Argyll knows di Souza and doesn't think he's capable of murder. After thinking over the entire situation, he makes a phone call to Italy and asks for the help of Flavia di Stefano of the Italian National Art Theft Squad.

Ever since I was a teenager and watched each week's episode of It Takes a Thief, I've had a weakness for jewel and art thieves. (Well, at least as portrayed by Robert Wagner and Fred Astaire!) Part of the charm of Pears' Art History series for me is the convoluted plot when someone has found a treasure, gets possession of it, and then tries to get it home free. The author's background in journalism and art history is perfect fodder for his series.

When I'm not learning interesting tidbits about art history, I'm learning about the culture of Italy-- a country that's always been high on the list of places I must visit.

" It was his own fault; he crossed the wide boulevard which led past the Moresby and on to his hotel in the cavalier fashion he had adopted for dealing with Roman traffic, and discovered that drivers in California, while generally slower, are not nearly as accurate as their Italian counterparts. A Roman shaves past your legs and makes your trousers billow in the wind but disappears over the horizon with a triumphant hooting of the horn, leaving no real damage behind. The driver of this particular vehicle either had clear homicidal tendencies or little skill; he flashed past, saw Argyll, blew his horn and swerved at only the last moment, very nearly consigning Argyll to the hereafter in the process."

And if convoluted plots, art history and culture weren't enough, there are Pears' marvelous characters. The Englishman, Jonathan Argyll is an endearing bumbler who tends to see himself as Superman's younger athletic brother. Flavia di Stefano of the Art Theft Squad is extremely self-assured, very intelligent, and uses sarcasm to good effect. It's fun to watch these two play off each other.

Whenever I pick up one of Iain Pears' Art History mysteries, I know an intelligent, entertaining read is awaiting me. show less

Jonathan Argyll has sold a minor Titian to a private museum in Los Angeles owned by a billionaire, and he has been sent by his employer to collect the money. He soon runs into an old acquaintance, a Spanish art dealer of questionable ethics and old-world charm; this man has also sold some art to the billionaire, a series of sculptures. But before either man can collect, the billionaire is murdered, the art dealer disappears and Jonathan is subject to a string of potentially fatal accidents. It is up to Flavia di Stefano to travel to California, ostensibly to assist the local police but really to just keep Jonathan alive, if she can…. This is the third in a series featuring Jonathan and Flavia, and although it’s set in Southern show more California rather than in Italy, it’s just as entertaining as the previous two. The relationship between the two main characters is clarified to some degree, and the mysteries to be solved are both believable and complicated. I wouldn’t call these books “cozies,” exactly, but it’s certainly one of the more gentle mystery series as a whole; recommended! show less

Jonathan Argyll is in Los Angeles, delivering a Titian to a private museum. Before he gets paid for it, though, the owner of the museum is killed, apparently to facilitate the theft of a Bernini bust another art dealer is delivering. Of course, it's all a bit more complicated and after Johnathan is involved in a car crash, Flavia is seconded to liaise with the Los Angeles police since the bust may have been smuggled out of Italy.

Another good twisty episode which kept a smile on my face. I thought I'd read the whole series before, but this one was new to me.

Iain Pears writes wonderful books and his Argyll series of art dealer/history mysteries is enjoyable. Not heavy lifting but enjoyable and intricate. A good use of one's time.

In The Bernini Bust, a privately owned Los Angeles museum has just made two unusual purchases – a painting that doesn't really fit into the museum's collection, from lovable but rather bumbling dealer Jonathan Argyll, and an assortment of half-rate (and possibly fake) classical sculpture from a known-to-be-crooked dealer. However, it soon turns out that the latter dealer was tricked into smuggling a valuble marble bust by the famous Bernini out of Italy (which of course means that Flavia, from the Art Crimes squad in Italy gets called in) – a bust that possibly he had some connection to in the past. However, the museum's owner-patron soon turns up murdered right before making a big announcement, and the shady dealer goes missing... show more the conclusions seem obvious.. but, of course, they're not. This installment does suffer for being set in L.A. rather that the more colorful settings of Europe that Pears prefers, and I felt that Jonathan seemed a little too bumbling in this one. show less

This is the first of Pears’ Art History Mysteries that I’ve read, and I really enjoyed it. When I read mysteries, about half the time I can guess “whodunit,” but I was genuinely surprised at the end of the book. I’ve read that the other books in this series take place in Italy and England, which I think is probably a more comfortable setting for these characters than LA was in this book. Pears got LA…close. But not quite right. The Americans really talked like Brits. Overall, though, it was a nicely plotted mystery, complete with intrigue, romance, humor, and some derring-do. I’ve added his other Art History Mysteries to my to-read list.

Read my full review here: show more target="_top">http://c2rcc.wordpress.com/2009/01/04/1-the-bernini-bust-by-iain-pears/ show less

Bernini Bust. Iain Pears. 1992. I cannot remember when I first read about Pears’ art mysteries but I have been curious about them, when I found this at the Barnes and Noble in Tuscaloosa (ah…so nice to go into a Barnes and Nobles), I purchased it. And I was a little disappointed because I expected that it would have more “art stuff’ in it. But it is a pleasant little mystery. British art dealer, Jonathan Argyll takes a small Titian to a private museum in Los Angeles. While he is there the wealthy owner is killed and long-lost Bernini bust disappears. Argyll’s girl friend a member to the Italian Art Theft Squad is sent to LA to help in the investigation.