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Book Review By David Loftus
The Raphael Affair by Iain Pears

English graduate student Jonathan Argyll has come to Rome because he believes his subject artist, a minor 18th century Italian painter named Mantini, may have painted over an early 16th century masterpiece by Raphael, so it could be sold and sent out of the country by an English buyer. Then Mantini painted a copy of the original. When the painting is tracked down and revealed, it sells at auction in Britain to the Italian government, which spends 10 million lire to keep it in its "homeland." But not long after it finds a permanent home in a national Italian museum, somebody vandalizes the painting, burning it beyond salvage. Moreover, Argyll and an art researcher with the Italian National Art Theft Squad named Flavia de Stefano have begun to think the Raphael itself was a fake. Soon after, one of the midlevel executives of the museum is found stabbed in the back, and Jonathan and Flavia must track down the real story of the painting, as well as the murderer(s), although it doesn't help that Jonathan himself is a prime suspect. This 1990 novel was the first of Pears's series of Italian art mysteries.
Plot How difficult to spot villain? - Moderately Challenging Time/era of story: What % of story relates directly to the mystery, not the subplot? - 40% Murder of certain profession? Misc. Murder Plotlets - Proving innocence of very obvious suspect Kind of investigator Kid or adult book? - Adult or Young Adult Book Any non-mystery subplot? descript. of violence and chases - 10 % Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 50 % Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 20 % How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 20 % Crime Thriller Yes Murder Mystery (killer unknown) Yes Main Character Gender - Male Profession/status: Age: - 20's-30's How much violence does he/she use? - none Ethnicity/Race How sensitive is this character? Sense of humor - Strong but gentle sense of humor Intelligence - Average intelligence Physique - average physique Main Adversary Identity: - Male Age: - 40's-50's How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - a moderate amount Motive of antagonist - money/treasure The antagonists are: - government bureaucracy How sensitive is this character? Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters Setting Europe Yes European country: - England/UK - Italy City? Yes Style Part of a series? Yes Person - mostly 3rd Accounts of torture and death? - moderately detailed references to deaths How many deaths? - 2 Unusual forms of death - dropped from large heights Unusual form of death? Yes Amount of dialog - significantly more descript than dialog