Ghirlandaio's Daughter: A Detective Carlo Arbati Mystery [Hardcover]

John Spencer Hill (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1997

When Nigel Harmsworth finds a dead American with a spear in his back at his friend's Tuscan villa, poet and policeman Carlo Arbati is called in to investigate.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

There's a very pleasant, unashamedly old-fashioned Hercule Poirot-like quality to this second book in a series about a Florentine detective, Carlo Arbati, who is also a prize-winning poet. Written by a Canadian professor, it lightly covers a buzzing nest of such human passions as lust, greed, and envy with a cultured patina of art and gracious living. Of course, that patina can easily disintegrate--especially when an American gangster bent on blackmail is killed by a falling bronze statue. Arbati, visiting the quiet town of Lucca to accept a poetry award, is as baffled as his local colleague by the events that follow. Also available in paperback is John Hill's first Arbati book, the award-winning The Last Castrato: A Mystery of FlorenceThe Last Castrato: A Mystery of Florence.

From Booklist

Cops in crime novels should know better than to take vacations. When Florentine poet and police inspector Carlo Arbati (Adam Dalgliesh, Italian style) agrees to accept a literary award in nearby Lucca, you know he's walking into trouble. First an American is impaled by the bronze spear of a Mycenaean warrior, and then another American mysteriously drops dead at the reception following Arbati's award ceremony. Arbati agrees to assist his friend and fellow cop Giorgio Bruni in the investigation, which soon uncovers an elaborate art-fraud scheme involving members of the Luccan expatriate community. This second Arbati mystery, following The Last Castrato (1995), clearly establishes Hill's series as a contender in the growing European procedural sweepstakes. Arbati combines Dalgliesh's poetic sensibility with a continental joie de vivre that proves irresistible, and the supporting cast of idiosyncratic expatriates is an equal delight. If the story itself seems overly reliant on formula, the Tuscan ambience provides more than adequate compensation. Bill Ott

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press (March 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312151330
• ISBN-13: 978-0312151331
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,685,444 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Weak characters, shallow plot, June 26, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Ghirlandaio'S Daughter (Detective Carlo Arbati) (Paperback)

The overall premise of this book was interesting - an "artful" murder mystery set in Tuscan Italy. Having visited Lucca myself, I was somewhat disppointed to find that relatively little of the flavor of the place came through in the book. Worse, the characters are shallow and stereotyped. The detective intuits his way through virtually every difficulty, using his mind reading powers to solve each problem. While a psychic detective may appeal to some, I find the concept not at all believable. The rest of the characters are poorly developed, shallow stereotypes and the dialogue is childish. The story had potential, but in the end, I would classify this book as "fluff".

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Badly written by a weak author with an oversized thesaurus., June 17, 1999

By 

Robert C. Kelly "galway1" (Falls Church, VA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Ghirlandaio'S Daughter (Detective Carlo Arbati) (Paperback)

This is a very badly written mystery. The language is tortured, the plot is weak, the characters have no depth. Want some examples- try using the word "effulgent" in a love poem. The main detective intuits the next step (the same way the Profiler does on TV) and goes to the scene of the crime long after ward only to discover the main clue that all of the local police missed. Lastly, a mystery set in Lucca should be filled with details about the beautiful walled Italian city- you better know those details from another source, you won't find them in any depth here.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Wonderful Italian Mystery, November 16, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Ghirlandaio's Daughter: A Detective Carlo Arbati Mystery (Hardcover)

This is a great old fashioned mystery in the Agatha Christie mold. There is an interesting, cultivated detective, a pleasant dalliance, and plenty of loopy characters. The murderer and the motive are plausible and all is revealed in the traditional gathering of suspects. Subplots-involving family matters- are quite touching even. A good choice for art lovers and Italophiles. Ciao.