The Last Judgement

Iain Pears

Jonathan Argyll agrees to transport a painting from Paris to Rome. While at the train station in Paris, someone tries to steal the painting. He is able to keep the work and deliver it to its new owner in Rome. The man who had purchased the painting looks it over, is dissatisfied with it, and asks Argyll to keep it and resell it for him.

Argyll agrees and keeps the artwork. His girlfriend, Flavia di Stefano, is an Italian police in the art theft department. The next day she is brought in on a murder. The man who had purchased the painting was found dead in his hotel, tortured and shot. Soon others are looking for the painting and another man is killed. What is going on? In order to track down a murderer and an art thief Argyll and DI Stefano travel to Paris, Switzerland, and England following leads and talking to people who tied back to a French Resistance cell from World War II. Somehow it all ties together and they need to find out how.

Although the ending of this book pulls everything together wonderfully, the rest of the book plodded along. Although I have not read any earlier books in the Art History Murder series, I could see how Argyll's and Di Stefano's relationship is progressing. I read the whole book and never considered skipping ahead. At the same time, I did not feel compelled to read. The book is fair overall, with the ending being its main salvation.

The Instance at the Fingerpost by Iain Piers