Ruins of Grandeur
A Peter
Grant Mystery
Donald
G. Geddes, III
Morgana Press (Hardcover)
ISBN-10: 0-9773514-9-1 (0977351491)
ISBN-13: 978-0-9773514-9-7 (9780977351497)
Publication Date: October 2008
List Price: $17.95
Synopsis (from the publisher): New York art sleuth Peter Grant is summoned to Venice by Lloyd's of London to recover a priceless Giovanni Bellini original masterpiece stolen from an Austrian Archduke's seventeenth-century palazzo. Under the charm, elegance and decadence of the winged lion's dark-edged renaissance city, Peter pursues reconciliation with his beautiful estranged wife, Claire. Meanwhile what seems a case of simple art theft spirals into a depraved conspiracy and Peter finds himself swept into the deep, troubled waters of holiness, debauchery, theft and murder.
Review: Donald
G. Geddes III, introduces Peter Grant on the trail of a stolen
masterpiece in Venice in Ruins of
Grandeur, the first of a trilogy of mysteries featuring the
international art sleuth.
Peter is hired by Lloyd's of London to recover a missing Bellini, a
masterpiece presumably stolen from a Duke's residence in Venice.
Peter's ex-wife happens to live in Venice, but upon arrival he's
disappointed to learn she's vacationing elsewhere on the Continent. He
quickly discovers that the missing painting is just one of a large
number of religious artifacts that have recently disappeared, including
one taken from a monk who was killed in Venice while returning to Rome
from Murano. The police have no suspects until Peter is presented as
one when the police convince him to pose as a thief and then a dead
woman turns up in his apartment. Pursued by the police and by the real
criminals who believe he knows too much, Peter must save himself before
he's a victim himself.
Ruins of Grandeur tries
to be light, romantic comedy as well as serious suspense fiction
coupled with international action intrigue but never quite strikes the
right balance between any of them. Peter Grant is clearly patterned
after the ever-suave Cary Grant (the similarity in their names almost
certainly not a coincidence) and the plot seems written more as the
basis for a screenplay than as a novel. The Venice setting is spendidly
descriptive and most of the characters are creatively drawn if a bit
shallow and stereotypical. But the story lacks substance and after
adopting a decidedly leisurely pace for much of the narrative, the
ending is overly rushed which may be an attempt disguise the fact that
the resolution to the various crimes is quite illogical. On balance,
though, Ruins of Grandeur is
a pleasantly entertaining if undemanding mystery.
Special thanks to Morgana Press for providing a copy of Ruins of Grandeur for this review.
Review Copyright © 2009 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved
Have you read Ruins of Grandeur? How would you rate it?
Mysteries in this series …
Ruins of Grandeur
Morgana Press (Hardcover), October 2008
ISBN-10: 0-9773514-9-1 (0977351491)
ISBN-13: 978-0-9773514-9-7 (9780977351497)
Omnimystery keywords for Ruins of Grandeur ...
Location(s) referenced: Venice, Italy.
