Fine art, quirky characters, and scenes set in Rome and an English country village add to the joys of Giotto's Hand...A neat twist at the end is the cherry on this fudge sundae of a mystery.

Art, crime, and Italy mix well... Pears masterfully juggles his plot elements while providing delightful diversion in the contrasting manners of his English and Italian characters.Best of all is the moral ambiguity at the heart of the story.As in Michael Dibdin's Aurelio Zen series, good and evil are inextricably blended, like the ingredients in a good risotto.

When art dealer Jonathan Ar 11 agreed to transport the Death of Socrates from a gallery in Paris to its new Owner in Rome,he had no idea that such a worthless, nondescript painting would cause such a stir. First someone tries to steal it from him in a train station. Then the man he's delivering it to decides he doesn't want it--and is brutally murdered a few hours later. Now Argyll is stuck with a painting that only the most tasteless collector could love...and he finds himself right in the middle of a murder investigation.With the bodies piling up, he must investigate the dark secrets in the painting's past--before someone with truly horrible taste decides to put him out of the picture for good...