Overview

October 1944, in the Republic of Sal, a German puppet state in the north of Italy and the last fascist stronghold in the country. Colonel Martin Bora of the Wehrmacht must investigate the theft of a precious painting of Venus by Titian, stolen with uncanny ease from a local residence. While Bora's inquiry proceeds among many difficulties, the discovery of three dead bodies throws an even more sinister light on the scene. Caught in an unforeseeable web of events, hounded by the Gestapo, hopelessly in love with an enigmatic, real-flesh 'Venus,', Bora must resort to all his courage and ability not only in order to solve the mystery and expose the perpetrator, but also, in a breath-taking crescendo, to try to save himself from the firing squad.

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9781916725065

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Reviews

"Praise for the Martin Bora series: ""HORSEMAN'S SONG, Set in 1937, Pastor's outstanding sixth mystery featuring German investigator Martin Bora makes effective use of the death of Federico García Lorca, the celebrated poet, during the Spanish Civil War..."" PW Starred Review""THE ROAD TO ITHACA, a cleverly imagined story set in Crete immediately after the German invasion in 1941 which shows Ben Pastor totally in command of her exhaustive research and writing at the peak of her powers."" Shots ""TIN SKY is the best crime novel of the month. Terror and suspicion on the Eastern Front. We hail a bold series set in the Second World War. This fine novel is packed with tense moments and moral ambiguity.' Times ""NIGHT OF SHOOTING STARS: a saga that grows and grows and traverses with assurance some of humanity's dark times."" CrimeTime ""A DARK SONG OF BLOOD is historical crime fiction at its best, vividly re-creating the atmosphere of a city occupied by an increasingly desperate army. ' Sunday Times ""The tone of LIAR MOON has a flu-like grimness, appropriate to the 1943 setting. Pastor is excellent at providing details (silk stockings, movie magazines, cigarettes) that light up the setting."" Booklist ""LUMEN's plot is well crafted, her prose sharp... a disturbing mix of detection and reflection."" Publishers Weekly"

Author Information

Ben Pastor, born in Italy, lived for thirty years in the United States, working as a university professor in Vermont and has since returned to her native country. She is the author of the Martin Bora series and other novels, including The Water Thief and The Fire Waker (set in Roman times and published to high acclaim in the US by St. Martin's Press), and is considered one of the most talented writers in the field of historical fiction. In 2008 she won the prestigious Premio Zaragoza for best historical fiction. She writes in English.

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