The Last Judgement

An Art History Mystery

By: Iain Pears

Narrated by: Geoffrey Howard

Length: 7 hrs and 13 mins

Publisher's summary

In an exchange of favors with an art dealer colleague, Jonathan Argyll unluckily offers to transport a painting from Paris back to Rome. It seems routine work, and Jonathan gets to meet his girlfriend, Flavia, who works for Rome's Art Theft Squad.

But when a would-be thief tries to take the painting at the train station, and the art dealer seems less interested in his purchase once he sees it, Jonathan wonders why, as events unfold, someone is willing to kill for it. With customary wit and panache, Jonathan and Flavia embark on a breathless chase to capture a killer who has been refining his own particular art for many years.

©1993 Iain Pears (P)1997 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"A witty, exceptionally brilliant puzzler." ( Sunday Times (London))
"A joy for readers who enjoy a complex plot set to clever dialogue with the often nefarious goings-on of the international art market as a backdrop." ( St. Petersburg Times)

solid

Good story, good narrator interesting characters. First t ik me listening to this author. I'll have to see what else is available.

Good mystery

I enjoyed this mystery. Lots of information about art originals and how others make money by forging artist's masterpieces. I enjoyed learning more about art history. It is a good story and well worth the read. Dialogue is clever and witty. I will be reading more of Mr. Pears books. Enjoy!

New author for me

It is a pleasure to recommend this book and the narrator. I always enjoy Mr Howard’s narration. For those of u who have enjoyed Mr pears work, I join you in appreciating his style. I will look forward to finding more of his work!

The Long and Winding Road to Truth

Once again Jonathan and Flavia tackle an almost unsurmountable task. This time I wasn't sure they would pull it off, but, lo and behold, they did! Filled with quirky wit and resilience, these two unraveled the mystery that went back so far that I was sure it was buried forever. This fictional story makes me wonder just how much bs our governments (around the world) have fed us and still are. Excellent listen.

Not fully satisfied.

I’m just commenting here on craft, not… opinions or ethics or whatnot, so I won’t go into the stereotypes and things like that that bothered me — honestly I’d say that’s part of the atmosphere of the European procedural, even if I find it distasteful.

What bothered me up until about halfway through was that there was just too much word of mouth — just about everything came from the testimony of some person who would never be heard from again, and any of it could be lies. It all depended on the author’s bent.

About halfway through, I figured out the solution, pretty much through that line— the author’s bent is anti-bureaucracy, I wouldn’t quite say anti-establishment, but at least, a view that governments, at least continental ones, are full of paper-pushers who don’t care, and higher-ups who cover up and smirk and say “well, you know how it is”. With that in mind, the “who” becomes obvious (since the author keeps beating you over the head with that one thing that, considering the bent, is clearly a sign of guilt), and the “why” falls into place from that.

I’m not enthralled, but it’s at least digestible, which is more than I can say for most of the other included books I’ve tried. Time to stop being stingy with credits.

Interesting story but. . .

At 1 hour u was ready to bail. The narrator was monotone and the story was not developing very well. I stuck with it because we were on a long trip and it turned out okay. I guess I'm glad we did.

A fun little mystery with appealing characters

This was an enjoyable little art history mystery. The investigating pair, Jonathan, a somewhat feckless art dealer, and his girlfriend Flavia, clever art police detective, traipse from Paris to Rome, to Basel, back to Paris and on to Gloucestershire, trying to figure out why everyone was trying to steal a mediocre painting.

Intriguing

It was better then first one, I wish they had mentioned if they had cleared the other man’s name even though it’s fictional - just seems right. So French and Italian in nature

Another Winner

After listening to the first book in the series, the Raphael affair, and enjoying it very much, I was concerned that the new narrator would ruin this book. But Geoffrey Howard did as good a job on this one as Ralph Cosham did on the previous book.
Iain Pears mysteries are smart, funny and engaging, and this one was no different (I have read the entire series as print books and have never been disappointed). The only problem I had with this audiobook is that it is out of sequence. The lives of Jonathan and Flavia follow a distinct timeline. It would have been nice if the publishers had chosen to record the second book in the series rather than one set farther down the fictional road.

Weak story line and characters

The main characters were weak and frustrating. I enjoyed the previous book. After this,I will not read another by the author. The narrator was wonderful