Iain Pears: The Bernini Bust (UK 2014)

From the Publisher:
Clever Italian art-history crime series featuring scholar and dealer Jonathon Argyll, from the author of the best-selling masterpiece 'An Instance of the Fingerpost'.

The hardest part of being an art dealer is having to sell your beloved works. For Jonathan Argyll, the pain is soothed when an American billionaire agrees to pay a vast sum for a relatively minor piece.

Arriving in the Californian sunshine eager to collect his cheque, Jonathan bumps into one of his less scrupulous colleagues, and discovers he is not the American's only seller. A bust of Pope Pius V is being smuggled out of Italy, and trouble is following in its wake.

Within hours, Jonathan's billionaire is dead and both the smuggler and his bust have gone missing. Thinking things can't get any worse, Jonathan calls for the help of the Italian Art Theft Squad - and instead finds himself the killer's next target...

Iain Pears: The Bernini Bust. HarperCollins, ISBN: 9780007380794 (January, 2014), eBook, 0.38 MB (ca. 224 p.), £3.99.

Iain Pears: The Bernini Bust (UK 2007)

From the Publisher:
'lain Pears writes delightfully witty, elegant, well-informed crime novels' -- THE TIMES
The hardest part of being an art dealer is having to sell your beloved works. For Jonathan Argyll, the pain is soothed when an American billionaire agrees to pay a vast sum for a relatively minor piece.

Arriving in the Californian sunshine eager to collect his cheque, Jonathan bumps into one of his less scrupulous colleagues and discovers he is not the American's only seller. A bust of Pope Pius V is being smuggled out of Italy, and trouble is following in its wake.

Within hours, Jonathan's billionaire is dead and both the smuggler and his bust have gone missing. Hoping things can't get any worse, Jonathan calls on the Italian Art Theft Squad for help - only to find himself the killer's next target...

'Iain Pears get better and better... frothy, fun and nicely plotted' -- SPECTATOR
'An elegant and amusing book, perfect for those who love a clever puzzle' -- MAIL ON SUNDAY

Iain Pears: The Bernini Bust. Harper, ISBN: 0007229194 (May, 2007), 224 p., £7.99.

Iain Pears: The Bernini Bust (USA 2001)

From the Publisher:
"As charming as its title -- -well-paced, witty and full of details that speak to his training as an art historian." -- The San Diego Union-Tribune

Jonathan Argyll has finally done something right -- he's sold an overpriced Titian to a well-endowed museum in L.A. Not bad for an art dealer who thinks selling paintings is the most unpleasant part of his job. And never mind that the Moresby Museum is known more for tackiness than for taste. Argyll's just anxious for the deal to be done -- and he's come to L.A. to drop off the painting and pick up the check. But it turns out there are a few devils loose in the City of Angels. Like the sneaky art dealer whom Argyll suspects of smuggling a Bernini bust out of Italy. And the museum's imperious owner, who's got a lot more money than sense-and is murdered right before both the smuggler and the bust disappear...

"Art history, literary language and wry humor realize another auspicious combination." -- Library Journal

Iain Pears: The Bernini Bust. Berkley Prime Crime, ISBN: 0425178846 (March, 2001), 272 p., $6.50.

Iain Pears: The Bernini Bust (UK 1999)

From the Publisher:
'Iain Pears has a superior line in this sort of tale' -- Guardian
British art historian Jonathan Argyll has just sold a minor Titian to an American museum for a highly inflated price. But as he complacently awaits his cheque in the Californian sunshine, trouble erupts: the museum's billionaire owner is murdered. a dubious art dealer disappears, and a Bernini bust, apparently smuggled out of Italy, is missing.

Things could hardly be worse, and the situation calls for assistance from his friends General Bottando and Flavia di Stefano of the Italian National Art Theft Squad... especially as things very definitely do get worse when the killer's attention turns to Jonathan himself.

Cleverly mixing murder with art, The Bernini Bust is a witty and intriguing mystery from the bestselling author of An Instance of the Fingerpost.

'Excellent' GERALD KAUFMAN, Scotsman

Iain Pears: The Bernini Bust. HarperCollins, ISBN: 0006511147 (November, 1999), 224 p., £5.99.

Iain Pears: The Bernini Bust (USA 1994)

From the Publisher:
British art historian Jonathan Argyll has just sold a minor Titian to an American museum for a highly inflated price. But as he complacently awaits his check in the California sunshine, trouble erupts: the museum's billionaire owner is murdered, a dubious art dealer disappears, and a Bernini bust, apparently smuggled out of Italy, is missing. This calls for help from his friends General Bottando and Flavia di Stefano of the Italian National Art Theft Squad... especially when the killer's attention turns toward Argyll.

Cleverly mixing murder with art, lain Pears has written his strongest and most entertaining mystery to date.

Iain Pears: The Bernini Bust. Harcourt Brace & Co., ISBN: 0151118302 (September, 1994), 192 p., $19.95.