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Rating: 
Summary: Jonathan and Flavia are fun to follow in US as in Europe
Review: I'll admit it--I missed the complex and worldly European setting that usually surrounds a Jonathan Argyll/Flavia di Stefano mystery. Transplanting Jonathan to Los Angeles on a business trip was a novel idea for Pears, and it works. Jonathan's being a native Brit wandering forlornly through LA with its lack of public transit and decidedly non-European look and feel adds a breath of fresh air to his well-intentioned bumbling. That bumbling, of course, is the comedy that redeems a topic that could become very dry-art history, wealthy art collectors, and old, aristocratic European families.I love mystery stories, especially serials, but it is always a fine line an author walks while trying to offer fans what they love-and what they want to see again in three, ten, or twenty books about their favorite hero/ine-without coming off as derivative or lacking imagination. Everything to love about Jonathan and Flavia remains in The Bernini Bust. Jonathan is kind and tends to get confused. Flavia is quick and sharp and alternately frustrated by and worried for Jonathan. The ever-evolving relationship between the two does do some growing in this installment. I often guess the ending of mysteries written by favorite authors. I can't be the only one who starts to know how an author's ideas tend to turn out after a time. "The Bernini Bust" actually surprised me at the end, and the hilarious conclusion of the murder investigation in LA soothed my ego for guessing wrong. Aside from the murder, the mystery of the Bernini Bust was another clever puzzle that made this yet another great installment in Iain Pears' mystery series.
Rating: 
Summary: Wry, Literate, and Amusing
Review: Jonathan Argyll is almost an anti-hero. He's an art broker who isn't very good at his job, and a lover who suffers from a stuttering inability to express himself. Nevertheless, he's sold an overpriced Titian to an L.A. museum and Argyll must travel from France to the US to oversee his sale. But L.A. is filled with bad guys--sneaky thieves, tacky museums, and thugs of all descriptions. The art world is turned upside down by murders which expose the darker side of human greed: tax evasion, fakery, and adultery. Jonathan's friend Flavia, a member of the Italian art fraud squad, joins him in L.A. to help unravel the increasingly twisted skein. Together they solve the crimes, and return to Italy as friends and lovers for the final, surprising scene of this delightful novel. Enjoy the setting, the characters, and the literate humor of a wonderful mystery story. I highly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: Wry, Literate, and Amusing
Review: Jonathan Argyll is almost an anti-hero. He's an art broker who isn't very good at his job, and a lover who suffers from a stuttering inability to express himself. Nevertheless, he's sold an overpriced Titian to an L.A. museum and Argyll must travel from France to the US to oversee his sale. But L.A. is filled with bad guys--sneaky thieves, tacky museums, and thugs of all descriptions. The art world is turned upside down by murders which expose the darker side of human greed: tax evasion, fakery, and adultery. Jonathan's friend Flavia, a member of the Italian art fraud squad, joins him in L.A. to help unravel the increasingly twisted skein. Together they solve the crimes, and return to Italy as friends and lovers for the final, surprising scene of this delightful novel. Enjoy the setting, the characters, and the literate humor of a wonderful mystery story. I highly recommend it.
Rating: 
Summary: It's a Bust
Review: Jonathan is adorably feckless in Europe but annoyingly clueless in California. Pears' books are fun to read but this one barely makes it as beach material. Sorry.
Rating:
Summary: It's a Bust
Review: Jonathan is adorably feckless in Europe but annoyingly clueless in California. Pears' books are fun to read but this one barely makes it as beach material. Sorry.
Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable Reading
Review: This is another in Mr. Pears' art history series featuring an Italian art police woman and English art historian/dealer. Unlike the prior books, this one takes place in Los Angeles rather than Rome. The change in venue does not detract. The Bernini Bust is one of the more enjoyable of the series.
Is there a bust or not? Is it a forgery or not? At least the reader is sure there was a murder early on in this thoroughly enjoyable novel. Mr. Pears' all-to-human heroes go through their usual mistakes and miscues and end up solving the crime. There is also a bit of shaving the ethical edges that always adds an interesting twist or two to these books. What adds to this series is that Mr. Pears keeps the characters - and their relationship - developing. He also adds humor - one can imagine that when Mr. Pears writes about Argyll and Flavia he does so with a wry grin. There's no heavy-lifting in these books, but this book, like the others is a great light, quick read.
Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable Reading
Review: This is another in Mr. Pears' art history series featuring an Italian art police woman and English art historian/dealer. Unlike the prior books, this one takes place in Los Angeles rather than Rome. The change in venue does not detract. The Bernini Bust is one of the more enjoyable of the series.
Is there a bust or not? Is it a forgery or not? At least the reader is sure there was a murder early on in this thoroughly enjoyable novel. Mr. Pears' all-to-human heroes go through their usual mistakes and miscues and end up solving the crime. There is also a bit of shaving the ethical edges that always adds an interesting twist or two to these books. What adds to this series is that Mr. Pears keeps the characters - and their relationship - developing. He also adds humor - one can imagine that when Mr. Pears writes about Argyll and Flavia he does so with a wry grin. There's no heavy-lifting in these books, but this book, like the others is a great light, quick read.
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