A Season for the Dead April 18, 2008
Posted by sadiejean in Book Reviews, Mystery.Tags: A Season for the Dead, David Hewson, Villa of Mysteries
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—3.5—
A confession. 200 pages. It took me 200 pages. I read 200 pages before I realized I had already read this book! First of all, what does that say about the book? Secondly, and more importantly, what does that say about me?! I’m losing it.
In David Hewson’s A Season for the Dead, Nic Costa is a young detective brought in to solve a series of murders in Italy meant to reflect the deaths of martyrs. While Professor Sara Farnese sits in a Vatican library, a former lover brings the skin of a man to her desk and then is killed by security. Now Nic must solve a series of crimes that seem to stem from this woman. Along the way, he himself becomes entranced with Sara, and therefore vulnerable to the serial murderer.
This is an entertaining police-procedural, full of suspicious characters, immoral religious leaders, and of course the religious-zealot serial killer. Nic Costa’s character is the one stabilizing force that keeps A Season for the Dead exciting, instead of veering off into the ridiculous. This is the first in the Nic Costa series by David Hewson, and I look forward to reading more of them. Although, perhaps I’ll only read these the one time though. It was a good book, but I don’t think good enough to read twice. Oops!
3.5/5
[...] appears as though our patient, despite a fairly unremarkable neurological exam, has significant limitations in temporal recall. [...]
[...] Try The Villa of Mysteries by David Hewson if you liked the first in the Nic Costa series A Season for the Dead. [...]
Ha, my Mom says that all the time! At least it was a decent read!