Customer Reviews

Pictures

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I've read and enjoyed most if not all of the authors novels. Typically he writes very realistically. This book was ,too over the top. The hero, former NYPD Captain Vincent Conte, had been on a fast track to move up in the department. Unfortunately, on the way, he discovered his wife was having an affair with a Deputy Chief. He confronted the Chief with his fists and was forced to resign. He then began working for a private investigation company. An assignment came up from a small duchy in the Alps near France, Monaco and Italy. Scandal and murders ensued involving The Duke,His Daughter,His son-law, a photographer, a model and a corrupt Italian detective. Conte ends up falling in love with the model. He goes past his assignment as he tries to come to the bottom of things. All in all, the plot is interesting and fast moving. My problems with this read are that I never particularly liked the character of the hero cop Conte. The plot lost reality as he operated in the tiny duchy as though he was back in NYC. Imagine this. He was trying to escape at the top of a mountain peak with snow, cold and wind. He was just wearing a business suit. He got caught in an avalanche. Naturally in this book he survived. I think the author is better at straight forward crime novels with a bit less romance.

I can't recall what prompted me to buy Daley's "Pictures", but as a crime thriller it was strangely listless and I think the underlying reason was Daley's need to invent a European country and continually glance at it sideways as if to check it was still there.

It seemed that creative geographic energy stole from plotting and character development, because nothing quite rang true - most of the motivations were cartoonist at best, and not even stereotypical bad at worst.

In particular, Augustin II, a heavy weight protagonist and hereditary ruler of the invented Grand Duchy, seems contradictorily too simplistic and yet way smart to dominate events in the way that Daley manoeuvres.

But it is the world weary somewhat hero, Vince Conte who I found particularly annoying. Having side swiped his police career he's lost in the world until he spies the pretty damsel in distress. Not even the large dose of introspection and suspicion of his own behaviour - which I usually like in novels - covers up the cracks in Conte's overly cynical viewpoint.

So, not even a "by the numbers" book. Daley has written over two dozen novels, mostly fiction (and a handful with co-authors) so I'm thinking this dud is a one off. I'll probably read another of his books just to check, but that's only if it comes to me, after "Pictures" I am not going to actively search for it.

After spending 30 minutes erasing all the penciled corrections and question marks from my copy of Pictures, I decided that anyone who's considering buying this book deserves at least one warning.

Inane remarks, boring repetitions, unappealing characters, poor scenic descriptions, and annoying errors abound. (When I drove from Monte Carlo to the Italian border, I went east; my atlas agrees. In Pictures, the Riviera road from Monaco to Italy goes west. And that's only one example.) The "romance" is appalling. The dialog would be laughable if it weren't so irritating.

I got the impression that Daley himself was bored to tears with this story and only wanted to get it over with. His previous books must be much better, but Pictures doesn't inspire me to try them.

With the breathtaking Bond-like backgrounds of Monte Carlo and Milan, Daley entraps you in intrigue that just doesn't let go. His characters are so-human-that you really care about their fate. As usual, Daley does women as well as any contemporary author, and Gigi's plight is fleshed out convincingly and movingly. But it is the hero, Conte, flawed and sometimes self righteous, who engages us in his quest to find something to believe in...and love.

Well done, Mr. Daley!

Fast read of a jet setting private investigator who traipsed all over Monte Carlo, Amsterdam, Milan and some unknown duchy in between, while trying to uncover the author of the set up on blackmailing the son-in-law of the sovereign of the hole in the wall duchy. The P.I. reminisces of his past career as a New York Police Captain, his failed marriage and falls in love with the most unlikely person. Delightful, no brainer novel.

Robert Daley used to write the best police novels set in America and now he writes the best crime stories set in Europe as his private detective investigates the tennis player who is dating the only daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Luxembourg.

This mystery is unique in several ways. The main character is an ex-cop (not unique) who goes to work for a large investigative firm that specializes in industrial theft. The "instrument" of the "crime" is a series of pictures taken in a small European duchy. Even "true love" becomes part of the centerpiece of the story. The setting moves from the duchy to Amsterdam to France to Monte Carlo to Italy and back to the duchy.

Mr. Daley is a master story teller and sets scenes wonderfully so the reader can see the full setting in his mind's eye. In many ways, the book reads like a screenplay (a wonderful movie it would be) with settings and people described vividly.

Conte - the ex-cop, who was fired for a wonderful transgression - is sent to the small European duchy to learn about the genesis of tawdry pictures taken of the royal family. Although one suspects the bad guy early on, catching him is still the trick. But the photographer is only the beginning. The plot moves around Europe with the focus on different characters and suspects. There are plenty of twists and turns to keep mystery fans interested.

Conte is a very good character and the supporting cast, too, is well-developed and three-dimensional with the exception of the duke, who is a bit boilerplate. The others, however, have depth and relationships grow at a natural pace.

This would make a good start to a series with Conte as the ex-cop who misses his beat, but still catches bad guys.

Highly recommended for a good amusing read.

Reviewed by Beverly J. Rowe

Vince Conte is back. He destroyed his career with the NYPD when he caught the deputy police commissioner coming out of a hotel with Conte's wife. He assaulted the man, with no questions asked, and lost his job and his wife. Now he's working as a private investigator with a security firm. The firm is hired to investigate some poolside photos taken of Tony Murano and a sexy babe that may not be what they appear to be.

Tony is a small-time tennis pro who is married to the daughter of the monarch of a small European Dutchy. She is pregnant with the heir, and the girl's mother believes Tony's claim that he is innocent. Unfortunately, the king is sure that the photos are authentic, and since they appear in a multitude of magazines and newspapers, a divorce is quickly granted. The young wife and her mother are sure that it was, as Tony maintains, a set up.

Conte locates the woman in the photos, and she is ultimately convinced to help out with his investigation. The trail of the photographer leads to Amsterdam, Monte Carlo, Milan and several other stops, and Conte falls in love with the beautiful Gigi in the process.

This novel is not quite what I expected from Robert Daley, but is a very entertaining read nevertheless. Daley weaves a bit more romance into this international romp than his usual NYPD tales in a high-octane thriller is laced with deception, betrayal, blackmail and murder. It is loaded with compelling characters and a fast-paced plot that kept me reading late into the night.

Armchair Interviews says: Don't start this book if you have something else that needs to be done that day.

As well written as you might expect from a Daley novel, it really is less and less a mystery as the reader begins to understand the people involved in the story. The reader comes to care about these people and how they deal with the challenges that face them. A very satisfying story and not one to be read too quickly.

As Antonio Murano's wife, European Duchess Maria Cristina, goes into labor, paparazzi Georges Grizzard takes pictures of the former tennis coach in close passionate proximity with beautiful bimbo, Gigi Meyer. Georges offers first dibs to the cheating spouse for $100,000, but Tony fails to come up with the money so Grizzard sells the photos to a tabloid.

Outraged Duke Augustin II, who already detests Tony for a lot of valid reasons, kicks this common trash out of the family home. However, his wife, Lady Charlotte cannot believe Tony could be this stupid so wonders if her son-in-law is being framed. She hires American security firm Probe, Inc. who have an earned reputation for discrete investigations, to uncover the truth. Probe, Inc. sends Vincent Conte to Europe to handle the case because he speaks Italian. No one offers him any information including Grizzard and Gigi until the peripheral players start dying, making the former NYPD cop wonder if there is something even more sinister than destroying a marriage.

Though lacking the stark suspense of Robert Daley's previous urban mysteries and nonfiction, PICTURES is a solid investigative tale starring a defrocked former cop struggling with a horde of Europeans, who refuse to cooperate even in some cases when death seems imminent. Vincent follows the money and corpses all over Western Europe as he tries to determine whether Tony was set up as Charlotte believes or just being Tony as the Duke accepts. Though somewhat more straightforward in plotting than usual, fans of Robert Daley will enjoy this European holiday thriller.

Harriet Klausner