This is the third crime novel Hewson has set in Rome and for me it is much the best. The same central characters feature in each. This seems to have shades of The Da Vinci Codeto it as a murdered woman’s back has the design of Leonardo Da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man carved into it. However it becomes something very different, very topical, very sad and very important. An emotional story that needs to be read.
Rome is paralysed by a rare blizzard, and the body of a young woman, her back mutilated, is found in the Pantheon. FBI agents want the case closed quietly, but grudgingly admit to Nic Costa of the Questura that this murder is not the first of its kind, and that it points to a sinister conspiracy.
David Hewson was born in Yorkshire in 1953. He was a journalist from the age of seventeen, working most recently for the Sunday Times. In addition to travel books, he has written a number of novels including nine titles in the Detective Nic Costa series set mostly in Rome. The author lives in Kent.
