The Raphael Affair (2003)

By Iain Pears
I received a lot of criticism for my criticism of another of Iain Pear’s books, “Death and Restoration”. Well, this one was better! A lot better – I think because we didn’t have to endure so much of Jonathan Argyll’s “inner monologue” about his ethical dilemmas – he was just a slightly kooky art historian. (And we all know how kooky art historians are). I also enjoyed the plot of this book much more, as it relied more on legitimate historical detective work and less on the philosophical musings of monks.

Oh yes, the plot – I’d like to say, a painting gets nicked and they get it back, but this is not really true!! See, the plot thickens already…

The “restorer” in this book wasn’t so much of a tosser as the one in “Death and Restoration”, but did come across as slightly pathetic.

Rating: 7 out of 10