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A Season for the Dead
Paperback
Main Details
| Title |
A Season for the Dead
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| Authors and Contributors |
By (author) David Hewson
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| Physical Properties |
| Format:Paperback | | Pages:400 | | Dimensions(mm): Height 178,Width 111 |
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| Category/Genre | Crime and mystery |
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| ISBN/Barcode |
9780330493635
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| Classifications | Dewey:823.914 |
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| Audience | |
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| Edition |
3rd
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Publishing Details |
| Publisher |
Pan Macmillan
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| Imprint |
Pan Books
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| Publication Date |
2 April 2004 |
| Publication Country |
United Kingdom
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Description
'Stefano's left arm, the one holding the weapon, swept the table, swept everything on it ...She was quiet, waiting, which was, his eyes seemed to say, what he wanted. Then Stefano lifted up the bag to the height of the desk, turned it upside down, let the contents fall on the table and said, 'The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church'. Whilst Sara Farnese pours over ancient texts in the silent Vatican reading room, a brutal murder is taking place in a nearby church. Then suddenly a crazed man enters the Vatican carrying a bloodied bag. He walks up to Sara's desk. He has something he would like her to see ...Soon Sara us inextricably linked to a series of horrific and cunning murders, each one representative of the death of a martyr of the Church. Into this climate enter Detectives Costa and Rossi, enlisted to track down the killer, and to protect Sara from the horrors he is capable of. It seems that at any time she could be the next chosen sacrifice...
Author Biography
David Hewson was born in Yorkshire in 1953. He worked as staff writer on THE TIMES from 1978, and has written five novels, as well as several travel books. He is now a weekly columnist for the SUNDAY TIMES. His second novel in the Nic Costa series will be THE VILLA OF MYSTERIES, and will be published in April 2004. David lives in Kent.
ReviewsKirkus Review US:Series debut, set in contemporary Rome, stars an idealistic detective and a Cardinal without principles. Nic Costa is nobody's fool. On the contrary, he's exceptionally bright and decently educated-ask him anything you want about Caravaggio-but the things that have happened to him in and around Vatican City might well have unstuck an older and wiser gumshoe. A sudden profusion of brutally murdered bodies, beginning with the one in the Vatican Reading Room, brings him together with professor of early Christianity Sara Farnese, as elegant as she is enigmatic. He's smitten-hard and perhaps irrevocably-not a healthy development for a young cop saddled with a high-profile case. And just who is this stunning Sara, whose past is so mysterious and whose present includes certain patterns of sexual behavior at once unbridled and strikingly joyless? Is she somehow the cause for the chilling rise in Rome's homicide rate? And what exactly is her relationship to the disgraced Cardinal Michael Denney? Is she (gulp) his lover? At one point, Nic's partner defines sleuthing as a combination of looking for facts and looking for lies. Nic agrees; with Sara around, there's no shortage of the latter. Hewson (Solstice, 1999) tends to overstuff, but likable Nic exudes series potential. (Kirkus Reviews)
Kirkus Review US:The first in a promising new crime series set in Rome, A Season for the Dead unfolds amidst the searing heat of an Italian summer, an atmospheric setting for murder and corruption. Hewson weaves a complex plot with confidence, embracing weighty themes such as bereavement and redemption. Detectives Costa and Rossi are assigned to track down a serial murderer whose gruesome killings are symbolically linked to the deaths of Christian martyrs. Each victim is linked to university professor Sara Farnese, whose troubled past slowly emerges. During their manhunt, Costa and Rossi encounter the secrecy of the Vatican, the corruption of Italian politics and the dark corridors of academia. Hewson skilfully reveals information over the course of the novel, involving us in a host of surprises and twists. His characters have real staying power. The mismatched cops Costa and Rossi are particularly well drawn - Costa's lean intensity is balanced against Rossi's cynicism and hidden tenderness, and Sara Farnese is a useful foil with her cool detachment and empty life. Even the lesser characters are ornately detailed, particularly corrupt cleric Michael Denney and tigerish pathologist Crazy Teresa. Hewson sustains the novel's tension through meticulous plotting and crisp prose. Interwoven with the manhunt and gore are interludes of compassion and forgiveness. The loving relationship between Costa and his father shows how humane Hewson's writing can be, and it is this humanity that distinguishes Hewson from more formulaic crime writers. By the time we reach the stylish conclusion we're already impatient to read the next in the series. (Kirkus UK)
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