To live and die in L.A.

Updates galore, y'all - get 'em while they're hot.

Next up is Iain Pears' The Bernini Bust, another in his delightful Jonathan Argyll/Flavia di Stefano series. I've raved about Pears a lot here, and his books are a constant source of delight for me. In this entry the scene shifts from Rome to L.A., where Jonathan is negotiating the final details for one of the biggest sales of his (admittedly less than spectacular) career - the Moresby Museum has agreed to purchase a small Titian at a very favorable price. If Jonathan makes the sale, his boss has promised him a promotion that will bring him back to London (much to Flavia's consternation).

But as is to be expected, all does not go according to plan - Arthur Moresby, the museum's benefactor, is murdered during a party celebrating the announcement of the museum's enormous expansion project. What's worse, the prime suspect, a Spanish art dealer named Hector di Salvo, has vanished without a trace. The icing on this disaster-cake? A valuable bust of Pius XI by Bernini has likewise disappeared. Unable to resist a bit of poking about, Jonathan collaborates with the local P.D. to find out what happened, with a little help from his beautiful Italian copper "friend."

I love Pears because he's one of the few authors that can shift from dark, serious work to lighthearted genre fiction easily and naturally without losing his edge. His non-series work is much loved by critics (and rightly so) but I find these little petit four mysteries a delight as well. Definitely recommended to anyone with an interest in Italian art who appreciates a light hand and engaging characters.