Knife-edged thriller with a Blume-ing great artistic touch
WHAT characterises this thriller, aside from its Rome setting, is that, as well as a compelling plot line, this is strongly character-driven.
The protagonist, Alec Blume, an American who has grown up in Rome is now a police commissioner. An outsider and a loner, he is nevertheless respected by his colleagues and subordinates because he understands the Italian system and handles delicate situations with a canny instinct. Unlike most of the other members of the police force, who are unashamedly chauvinist, he recognises talent when he sees it, and gives Inspector Catarina Mattiola her first murder case.
The first chapter ends with the discovery of a dead body on the Piazza De’Renzi, ostensibly a drunk tramp who took a fall. It emerges the corpse was Henry Treacy, an Irishman who had been living in Rome for years, making his living as an exceptionally talented art forger.
Alec Blume’s suspicions are raised when it appears those higher up in the Carabinieri are anxious for him not to pursue an investigation. Blume, always the subversive, persuades Catarina to assist him in following up Treacy’s death.
At Treacy’s home, they discover not only the ingredients he used in his forgeries, and a number of paintings, but, more crucially, three notebooks, which appear to be memoirs intended for publication. They take the notebooks just before the arrival of a senior member of the Carabinieri, the notorious Colonel Farinelli, who confiscates every painting in the house.
Alec’s parents were art historians, and he is very familiar with all the great masters and lesser-known artists too. Alec and Catarina take home a copy of the notebooks and are affected by the lost potential of a considerable artistic talent, corrupted before it was fully formed. The notebooks also reveal that Col Farinelli is inextricably involved in corrupt dealings with artworks and the Mafia. If aware of the existence of the notebooks, he could not allow the possibility of them being published, as it would signify the end for him.
The notebooks lead Alec and Catarina to an art gallery, which Treacy co-owned with businessman John Nightingale. There they also meet Manuela, his beautiful receptionist. As Alec delves further, risking not only his job and his life, but those of loyal friends who help him, he discovers clues to a secret treasure.
Italian mysogony, macho posturing, and the subtleties of communication are all essential ingredients in this novel. Aware that Farinelli has manipulated his subordinates for decades, destroying the lives of anyone who dares to cross his path, Blume is exquisitely aware of the knife-edged risk he is taking in challenging him.
Perhaps it’s because I’ve recently returned from a week in Rome, where this book is set, that I’m captivated, not only by Commissioner Alec Blume, but also by the world that Conor Fitzgerald creates in this, the second of his crime series. With the deft touch that comes only from an intimate knowledge both of the people and the location, Fitzgerald unleashes an outstanding thriller. Blume will become the most popular detective of the coming decade.
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