Althea M. (althea) reviewed on 9/11/2008 + 774 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 1

This one is the most recent in the series... It was as tightly-plotted as 'Death and Restoration,' and the writing was as good, but I didn't like it as much - for personal reasons, I have to admit: At the outset, we're informed that Flavia and Jonathan have just gotten married. Of course, she immediately turns out to be pregnant. (It has to follow in that order, even though they've been living together for years, right?) The pregnancy is obvious to the reader (when is a woman ever repeatedly nauseous in a book except when she's pregnant?) but somehow not to Flavia. But of course, she's delighted when she finds out, even though this may very well mean the end of her brilliant career in the police force (Every career woman, upon getting pregnant just 'wants to stay home and paint the kitchen,' right? Argh.)

Anyway - the plot cleverly balances Jonathan's quest to discover the provenance of a painting owned by Flavia's boss, who is planning retirement, (Of course this involves sources dropping dead and uncomfortable secrets coming to light...) and Flavia's involvement with an art theft case - where the political implications reach straight up to the Prime Minister. Radical terrorists and plots to bring down the government may be involved - but are these just dead-end leads? Again, the villains are not quite who one might expect them to be, and lies and deceptions are layered one upon the other....

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