Hill, John Spencer

Ghirlandaio's Daughter

There's a very pleasant, unashamedly old-fashioned Hercule Poirot-like quality to this second book in a series about a Florentine detective, Carlo Arbati, who is also a prize-winning poet. Written by a Canadian professor, it lightly covers a buzzing nest of such human passions as lust, greed, and envy with a cultured patina of art and gracious living. Of course, that patina can easily disintegrate--especially when an American gangster bent on blackmail is killed by a falling bronze statue. Arbati, visiting the quiet town of Lucca to accept a poetry award, is as baffled as his local colleague by the events that follow. Also available in paperback is John Hill's first Arbati book, the award-winning The Last Castrato: A Mystery of FlorenceThe Last Castrato: A Mystery of Florence.

Ghirlandaio’s Daughter marks the return of Detective Inspector Carlo Arbati of the Florence police force, first introduced to readers in the award-winning mystery The Last Castrato. Arbati once again finds himself caught up in murder and the world of the arts.

Arbati is vacationing in Italy where he is also being presented with a prize for his poetry at the yearly arts festival. An American tourist is killed in a freak accident; another American is mysteriously murdered in the middle of the arts festival reception. Were the two men connected, and if so, how? Arbati and his old friend, Inspector Giancarlo Bonelli, are required to untangle the web of deceit and intrigue that has baffled the local authorities, in this gripping and literate novel.

The Last Castrato