The Bernini Bust [Mass Market Paperback]

Iain Pears (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 4, 2003

British art historian Jonathan Argyll is in sunny Los Angeles conducting some profitable business with the Moresby Museum. Then the museum's owner is murdered and a Bernini bust disappears. And while awaiting the arrival of his friends from the Italian National Art Theft Squad, Jonathan finds himself targeted by the killer...

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Jonathan Argyll, Pears's ( The Titian Committee ) endearingly incompetent British art historian and art dealer in Rome, falls into a large sale of a lesser Titian--with a hitch: he must take the oil painting to the private Moresby museum in L.A. without so much as a down payment. The museum lives up to its nouveau reputation, having a collection without focus, a curator with grandiose plans and some Moresby family members with personal agendas sniping at the budget. Jonathan and amiable but dodgy art dealer Hector di Souza are invited to a party to celebrate Moresby's commitment to the Big Museum, otherwise known as "the BM." As the acquisition of a lost Bernini bust of Pope Pius V is announced, di Souza is visibly distressed; moments later Moresby is dead and di Souza and the bust have disappeared. Jonathan calls his old love in Rome, Flavia de Stefano of the Italian National Art Theft Fund, to report on the smuggled and now missing bust and moments later just escapes being killed. Flavia, connecting the bust to an old war story involving some of the suspects, flies to L.A. and, joined by an Italian LAPD cop, tries to get Jonathan out of trouble, the killer in jail and the bust back to Roma. With sharply etched characters and art world lore, Pears's latest tale is a lark in grand British style.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Art dealer Jonathan Argyll has delivered an overpriced Titian (The Titian Committee, LJ 9/1/93) to the Moresby Museum in Santa Monica, expecting to receive a check momentarily. During a museum party to announce the acquisition of a Bernini statue, however, someone murders the museum's opinionated billionaire owner. When Argyll's acquaintance, a shady Spanish art dealer who may have smuggled the Bernini statue out of Italy, becomes the prime suspect, Argyll calls upon Italian art squad investigator Flavia di Stefano for assistance. Art history, literary language, and wry humor realize another auspicious combination.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Mass Market Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Berkley Trade (November 4, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0425191893
• ISBN-13: 978-0425191897
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #346,795 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Jonathan and Flavia are fun to follow in US as in Europe, May 24, 2002

By 

K. Levin (Oregon & Massachusetts) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Bernini Bust (Art History Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

I'll admit it--I missed the complex and worldly European setting that usually surrounds a Jonathan Argyll/Flavia di Stefano mystery. Transplanting Jonathan to Los Angeles on a business trip was a novel idea for Pears, and it works. Jonathan's being a native Brit wandering forlornly through LA with its lack of public transit and decidedly non-European look and feel adds a breath of fresh air to his well-intentioned bumbling. That bumbling, of course, is the comedy that redeems a topic that could become very dry-art history, wealthy art collectors, and old, aristocratic European families.

I love mystery stories, especially serials, but it is always a fine line an author walks while trying to offer fans what they love-and what they want to see again in three, ten, or twenty books about their favorite hero/ine-without coming off as derivative or lacking imagination.

Everything to love about Jonathan and Flavia remains in The Bernini Bust. Jonathan is kind and tends to get confused. Flavia is quick and sharp and alternately frustrated by and worried for Jonathan. The ever-evolving relationship between the two does do some growing in this installment.

I often guess the ending of mysteries written by favorite authors. I can't be the only one who starts to know how an author's ideas tend to turn out after a time. "The Bernini Bust" actually surprised me at the end, and the hilarious conclusion of the murder investigation in LA soothed my ego for guessing wrong. Aside from the murder, the mystery of the Bernini Bust was another clever puzzle that made this yet another great installment in Iain Pears' mystery series.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wry, Literate, and Amusing, July 2, 2001

By 

Judith Lindenau "dulcie22" (Traverse City, MI USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Bernini Bust (Art History Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

Jonathan Argyll is almost an anti-hero. He's an art broker who isn't very good at his job, and a lover who suffers from a stuttering inability to express himself. Nevertheless, he's sold an overpriced Titian to an L.A. museum and Argyll must travel from France to the US to oversee his sale.

But L.A. is filled with bad guys--sneaky thieves, tacky museums, and thugs of all descriptions. The art world is turned upside down by murders which expose the darker side of human greed: tax evasion, fakery, and adultery.

Jonathan's friend Flavia, a member of the Italian art fraud squad, joins him in L.A. to help unravel the increasingly twisted skein. Together they solve the crimes, and return to Italy as friends and lovers for the final, surprising scene of this delightful novel.

Enjoy the setting, the characters, and the literate humor of a wonderful mystery story. I highly recommend it.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable Reading, June 30, 2003

By 

Richard A. Mitchell "Rick Mitchell" (candia, new hampshire United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Bernini Bust (Art History Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

This is another in Mr. Pears' art history series featuring an Italian art police woman and English art historian/dealer. Unlike the prior books, this one takes place in Los Angeles rather than Rome. The change in venue does not detract.

The Bernini Bust is one of the more enjoyable of the series.
Is there a bust or not? Is it a forgery or not? At least the reader is sure there was a murder early on in this thoroughly enjoyable novel.

Mr. Pears' all-to-human heroes go through their usual mistakes and miscues and end up solving the crime. There is also a bit of shaving the ethical edges that always adds an interesting twist or two to these books.

What adds to this series is that Mr. Pears keeps the characters - and their relationship - developing. He also adds humor - one can imagine that when Mr. Pears writes about Argyll and Flavia he does so with a wry grin.

There's no heavy-lifting in these books, but this book, like the others is a great light, quick read.