The Etruscan Chimera

I am about to fool you all, because this time I have a Canadian author on my plate.   I was browsing the mystery shelves of my public library (as we all should) and came across an author I have never read before.  Her name is Lyn Hamilton, and she writes a series about antique shop owner Lara McClintoch.

The Etruscan Chimera takes place all over Italy and France, and involves the Chimera of Arezzo  (and this is an Etruscan sculpture that is really housed in a museum in Florence.)   It seems a reclusive billionaire  has learned of the fact that there may be a companion piece in the statue of Bellerophon. For those of you not in the know, Bellerophon is the man who killed the Chimera in mythology.  The billionaire knows that if his name is involved in the sale the price will skyrocket, so he send Lara in to bid by proxy.

And the adventure begins.

I really liked the setting of the book.  It was fun to read about exotic locales like Paris and Rome and the countryside in Tuscany.  She is a descriptive writer and you get a feel for the places involved.   I also liked the research she did on the antiquities.  Putting true to life touches in a work of fiction always makes a work interesting, and I learned much about art smuggling throughout the course of this book.  There are several other adventures featuring Lara and I really plan on tackling a few of them.

The only downside of this particular mystery was the fact that there are way too many characters, and the solution gets a little convoluted.  In fact, some of the characters are not introduced until nearly the end of the book.   I kept having to step back and think “not another one!”.  And then trying to keep track of previous characters already met, both alive and dead, came to be quite a chore!   And the way that an antiquity kept disappearing and reappearing.  Uncanny!

But the character of Lara is interesting and the setting made me want to stick with the book.  And it is a relatively tame novel with no foul language and little blood or gore.  What could technically be called a “cozy”.   And you know that I have a tendency to read some rough  novels.

Have to work on my Widget today.  The current book I am reading,  The Dancing Druids by Gladys Mitchell, I cannot find a picture of the book cover to put over on the sidebar.  So you will just have to sit back and imagine what it looks like. I suppose I could describe it to you.  But that would be cheating.

Happy Monday!