The Etruscan Chimera (Archaeological Mysteries, No. 6) [Paperback]

Lyn Hamilton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 4, 2003

Lara's negotiations to buy a certain Etruscan sculpture come to an abrupt end when the owner turns up dead in his own Etruscan tomb. Now, Lara must search for that most precious, and most often counterfeited, rarity in the antiques market-someone she can trust...

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Canadian Hamilton (author of the Arthur Ellis nominated The African Quest, etc.) serves up her usual appealing mix of objets d'art and murder in her sixth well-researched mystery to feature antiquities dealer Lara McClintoch. In Rome, reclusive billionaire Crawford Lake hires Lara to get him the Bellerophon, a rare companion piece to the Chimera of Arezzo, one of the great Etruscan art treasures. Lara sets out to secure the Bellerophon from the collector who owns it, Robert Godard. There's just one hitchshe's sure it's a fake. Returning to deal with the collector, she finds an unwelcome sight: Godard lay sprawled, his body contorted in an awkward position, with his useless legs partly under him, his eyes still open, mouth contorted in a hideous grimace of fear or perhaps rage, as blood seeped from a wound at the back of his head. The picaresque plot leads from France to Rome to Ireland via a twisting set of intricate machinations and a sense of wanderlust that never flags. The peripatetic Ms. McClintoch makes an engaging detective, whether she's canvassing a flea market at Vanves for a 1924 edition of Sir Richard Burton's The Kasidah or window shopping on a little street off the Boulevard St. Germain. The author provides some tense moments, some impressionistic descriptions of the European terrain and some truly unforgivable puns (With any luck, I'd forced the issue. Because I was sick and tired of waiting for Godard ). Erudite mystery fans will enjoy the sophisticated wit.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Hamilton's series, billed as "archaeological mysteries," represents a heady blend of history, antiques, and detective work. The detective work is especially intriguing since the mysteries involve both scouting out fakes from originals and hunting down archaeological treasures as well as investigating thefts and murders. In this, Hamilton's sixth mystery, heroine Lara McClintoch, an antiques dealer based in Toronto, hunts down a masterpiece of Etruscan sculpture, which depicts Bellaphoron in the act of shooting the mythological chimera monster, for an eccentric billionaire. McClintoch's quest takes her to France, where, after encountering a series of shady and baffling antiques dealers, she meets Godard, a dealer who won't part with any of his treasures, one of which is the chimera. McClintoch returns the next day to find Godard dead and, later, the chimera in the trunk of her own car. More murder and art theft follow in this engaging, intelligent romp. Connie Fletcher
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Berkley (March 4, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0425189082
• ISBN-13: 978-0425189085
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,138,632 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Complex and intriguing, November 6, 2003

By 

Valerie Adolph "Coast Journal" (Pacific Northwest) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Etruscan Chimera (Archaeological Mysteries, No. 6) (Paperback)

Lyn Hamilton has another winnner with this complex tale of greed and betrayal set in Italy. Few writers can compare with her in presenting layer upon layer of deceit together with intricacies of plot and character.

This mystery novel, set in Tuscany and Rome, illuminates the dramatic scenery of the region and shows the reader the world of antique hunting and the people within it. These are not your gentle Sunday afternoon antique shop browsers but sharks in Lamborghinis, some motivated by financial greed, others by the need to possess the finest Etruscan artifacts. They have the money and the motivation to establish expensive smokescreens, sending antique dealer Lara McClintoch to Paris and back through Tuscany in an attempt to retrieve the Etruscan Chimera.

But the chimera is just that. The characters are never so simple, and just as one could not trust a chimera, one cannot trust anyone but Lara McClintoch in this book. Their deceits are so manifold and intricate that it's almost hard to keep track. Chimera indeed.

This is a vivid and and well-told tale. It is carefully researched, even scholarly, but never loses its drama and immediacy.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I couldn't put this down either., August 24, 2003

By 

Margaret Plichta "rosieplichta" (Muskegon, MI USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Etruscan Chimera (Archaeological Mysteries, No. 6) (Paperback)

I loved this book, it is exciting, well-plotted and very well written. I was surprised that this book didn't get more attention because it is as rivetting as The DaVinci Code, maybe even more. Lyn Hamilton is quite skilled at developing a sense of place, I have wanted to visit every locale she writes about. You won't be disappointed with this mystery either, it is as good as any Hitchcock had in his best days.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Don't waste your time, October 20, 2010

By 

Diogenes "Diogenes" - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Etruscan Chimera (Archaeological Mysteries, No. 6) (Paperback)

The author struggles to string out her convoluted tale; there's a lot of toing and froing by the principal character as she stumbles about the country side making choices a normal person never would. At page 74 the author shows little understanding of the "lost wax" process; does "artistic license" absolve her from misinforming the reader about this process? The last thirty pages are devoted to the denouement, revealing that three of the villains "managed to have their sentences reduced by testifying against Rosati, who couldn't defend himself for the obvious reason [he was dead]..." What a silly, naive suggestion. Judges normally don't give any weight or reward to self-serving statements by villains placing the blame on a conveniently dead crime partner. But then there's a lot of sillier stuff in this tale. Don't waste your time.