Art dealer Jonathan Argyll transports the painting 'Death of Socrates' from Paris to Rome, thwarting an attempted theft along the way. But the painting is simply bad art and the purported buyer is not interested, and soon there is even a murder attached to the old atrocity.

I was excited to read this book because the characters are based in Rome and I just visited Rome for the first time. Sadly, a great deal of the action of this book takes place in Paris, and I didn't feel as closely acquainted with that city. Still, it was a good mystery all the way around and I do like the characters. I enjoyed this look at the art world and the question of the past coming back to haunt people in unusual ways. I had my suspicions as to how things were connected and it seemed that I was proven wrong -- or was I? Mrs. Richards got the raw end of the deal but I appreciate the way Flavia handled the resolution of the case

This book is one of many being passed along to potential readers at the Gaithersburg Book Festival by members of BookCrossing in Washington DC (BCinDC).

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This book was among the leftovers from the Gaithersburg Book Festival. Not that being a leftover is a bad thing, since the weather was wet and we started with over 1,700 books.

My share of the leftovers was going to the OBCZ at the Starbucks in Springfield today. This book sort of waved at me, "Don't you want to read me first? I'm a mystery." So, onto the crowded TBR shelf it goes. I swear these things have glue on them or something.

After starting this book, I realized that I've read it before. But the test of a mystery is whether it stands up to a repeat, even if you think you might remember whodunit. And this one does. I may have to keep an eye out for other Jonathan Argyll mysteries, even though I've read them before too.