Iain Pears: The Last Judgement (UK 2014)

From the Publisher:
Witty Italian art-history crime series featuring English dealer Jonathan Argyll, from the author of the best-selling literary masterpiece, 'An Instance of the Fingerpost'.

Paris can do strange things to a man's mind... like making him agree to an apparently harmless favour of escorting a picture to Rome.

'The Death of Socrates' is a particularly nondescript piece, so art dealer Jonathan Argyll can sympathize when its recipient refuses to accept delivery. But in an unusual twist, the same man is found dead a few hours later. Surely the painting wasn't that bad?

Now caught up in a murder investigation, Jonathan recalls an attempt to steal the artwork while he was at the train station. Could this be the killer? The bodies start piling up and Jonathan must uncover the dark wartime secret at the heart of the mystery - before someone puts him out of the picture for good.

Iain Pears: The Last Judgement. HarperCollins, ISBN: 9780007387793 (January, 2014), eBook, 0.41 MB (ca. 352 p.), £2.99.

Iain Pears: The Last Judgement (USA 1999)

From the Publisher:
"A sophisticated, adventurous, and gripping story that is sure to hold wide appeal." -- Booklist
When art dealer Jonathan Argyl agreed to transport the Death of Socrates from a gallery in l'aris to its new owner in Kome. he had no idea that such a worthless, nondescript painting would cause such a stir. First someone tries to steal it from him in a train station. Then the man he's delivering it to decides he doesn't want it -- and is brutally murdered a few hours later. Now Argyll is stuck with a painting that only the most tasteless collector could love... and he finds himself right in the middle of a murder investigation. With the bodies piling up, he must investigate the dark secrets in the painting's past -- before someone with truly horrible taste decides to put him out of the picture for good...

"The latest (mis)adventure of art historian Jonathan Argyll delivers its plot twists at a rapid clip right up to the closing pages... Pears keeps his readers well occupied." -- Publishers Weekly

"The Last Judgement is a joy for readers who enjoy a complex plot set to clever dialogue with the often nefarious goings-ons of the international art market as a backdrop." -- St. Petersburg Times

"A witty, exceptionally brilliant puzzler." -- Sunday Times (London)

Iain Pears: The Last Judgement. An Art History Mystery. Berkley Prime Crime, ISBN: 0425171485 (October, 1999), 278 p., $6.50.

Iain Pears: The Last Judgement (USA 1996)

From the Publisher:
As deaths go, art dealer Jonathan Argyll has seen better - the last moments of Socrates, as rendered by a mediocre eighteenth-century artist, seems an unlikely painting to attract much attention.

But it has found a buyer, an affluent businessman living in Jonathan's adopted city of Rome. In an exchange of favors with an art dealer colleague, Jonathan unluckily offers to transport the Death of Socrates from Paris back to Rome.

The assignment seems routine enough. The Parisian art dealer will package the painting and arrange the paperwork. All Jonathan must do is carry it to its final destination. And, of course, he will then be reunited with his girlfriend, Flavia di Stefano, who just happens to work for Rome's Art Theft Squad.

It sounds like a fine plan, until things start to go wrong. Jonathan begins to realize that everything is not as it should be when a stranger approaches him at the train station and attempts to run off with the painting. Why would anybody go to such risk for a relatively unimportant piece of art?

The answer becomes no clearer when Jonathan finally delivers his precious parcel to Arthur Muller, its new owner in Rome. After an initial inspection of the artwork, Muller seems distinctly less interested than the would-be thief, even asking Jonathan to arrange a sale to a new buyer.

But if Muller doesn't want to keep the painting, somebody else desperately wants it. As events soon prove, somebody will even kill to possess it.

Iain Pears: The Last Judgement. A Jonathan Argyll Mystery. Scribner's, ISBN: 0684814595 (April, 1996), 224 p., $21.00.

Iain Pears: The Last Judgement (UK 1994)

From the Publisher:
In Paris on business, art historian Jonathan Argyll agrees to deliver a minor eighteenth- century painting to a elient in Rome. A simple enough task which goes murderously wrong. The elient is tortured and shot, and another prospective buyer also dies. Why would anyone go to these deadly lengths for such a mediocre work?

With the help of girlfriend Flavia di Stefano of Rome's Art Theft Squad, Argyll sets off on the trail of a secret that has lain undisturbed since the dark days of World War Two...

'Fresh, contemporary and coloured with sardonie wit' -- She Magazine
'A witty and exceptionally brilliant puzzler' -- Sunday Times
'Iain Pears has a superior line in this kind of tale' -- Guardian

Iain Pears: The Last Judgement. Gollancz Crime, ISBN: 0575057076 (March, 1994), 224 p., £4.99.

Iain Pears: The Last Judgement (UK 1993)

From the Publisher:
'Iain Pears has a superior line in this kind of tale' - Guardian
English art historian Jonathan Argyll, hero of The Titian Committee and The Bernini Bust, is in Paris where he undertakes to deliver a minor eighteenth-century painting to a client in Rome. It is a simple task that goes murderously wrong. The client is killed and another possible buyer dies as well. Then Argyll is told that the painting may have been stolen. Why should anyone go to such lengths for such a mediocre work?

With the help of his girlfriend Flavia di Stefano of Rome's Art Theft Squad, Argyll sets off on the trail of a secret that has lain undisturbed since the dark days of World War Two.

The Last Judgement is lain Pears's fourth novel featuring Jonathan Argyll, and art crime specialists Flavia di Stefano and General Bottando. An intriguing mix of art history and murder mystery, it is a witty, complex and gripping read.

Iain Pears: The Last Judgement. Gollancz, ISBN: 0575055847 (April, 1993), 224 p., £14.99.