From Publishers Weekly
Pity the rather overfed Gen. Bottando of the Italian National Art Theft Squad. An excellent, unknown Raphael was smuggled out of Rome hidden under a painting by the heroically second-rate artist Mantini. When it's eventually recovered at great cost by the Italian government and the Museo Nazionale, Bottando's peaceable existence in the Eternal City is further disturbed by forgery, arson, murder, government bureaucracy and the occasionally overzealous aid of his beautiful assistant, Flavia di Stefano, and British art historian Jonathan Argyll. Art historian Pears ( The Discovery of Painting ) provides one twist too many in his first novel, but presumably as this projected series continues his grasp of the genre will grow surer. His command of the intricacies of Italian life, art history and the licit and illicit trade in masterworks needs no improvement: although not all artists or organizations mentioned are real, none are improbable. Qua mystery, The Raphael Affair is very good; as cultural explication, it is superlative. Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
Thrills and excitement enter this first novel when a British art dealer discovers a Raphael portrait. After an astounding auction, the painting finds its way to a national museum in Rome, where its acquisition solidifies the director's reputation. Taddeo Bottando and his favorite assistant Flavia, both of the national art theft squad, become suspicious when a vagrant art student's story of fraud and the jottings of a famous forger come to their attention. Clever research, museum politics, and foreign setting add to the story's interest, especially for those who enjoy art and art history.Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From AudioFile
In this fast-moving tale about art forgery, art theft, art dealing and art investigation, Geoffrey Howard has an excellent voice for the different characters, both British and Italian. The listener is carried right along through the Italian museum world, a British art auction and an investigation into possible fraud. The Italian detective, General Bottando, and his female assistant, Flavia di Stefano, are read with flair; the British art historian, Jonathan Argyll, and various members of the commercial art world are spot on. Howard's delivery mirrors the increasing tension in the story right up to the denouement and then relaxes the pace so the listener can enjoy the puzzle's solution. D.M.W. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine


From Kirkus Reviews
Fledgling British art historian Jonathan Argyll, picked up for vagrancy when he's found hanging around a pokey Roman church, tells a wild story: He's come to check on his hunch that an obscure Mantini canvas hanging in the church actually conceals a lost Raphael painted beneath. The Mantini is already gone, sold to questionable British art dealer Sir Edward Byrnes, who promptly cleans, exhibits, and auctions it--to Argyll's chagrin--as the Raphael. Or is it? When the heralded painting is torched soon after its installation in Rome's National Museum, General Taddeo Bottando and Falvia di Stefano of the National Art Theft Squad have to join forces with Argyll--an amusingly unreliable ally--to follow a twisted trail of forgery, fraud, and murder. Politely sordid art-dealing background is the highlight of this quietly lighthearted first novel by art-historian Pears (The Discovery of Painting, 1980). -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

This is the first of a series of highly knowledgeable detective novels by an art historian about the art world. Set in Rome, it features the perpetually beset General Bottando of the Italian National Art Theft Squad; his glamorous assistant, Flavia di Stefano; and Jonathan Argyll, a British art historian. When Jonathan is arrested for breaking into an obscure church in Rome, he claims that it contains a long-lost Raphael hidden under a painting by Mantini. Further investigation reveals that the painting has disappeared. Then it miraculously reappears in the hands of the top British art dealer, Edward Byrnes. How has Byrnes found out about the hidden masterpiece, and whom is he acting for? There is also the curious matter of the safety-deposit box full of sketches closely resembling certain features of the newly discovered painting. A hideous act of vandalism occurs, then murder. Bottando faces the most critical challenge of his career, and Jonathan and Flavia find themselves in unexpected physical danger.

FROM THE CRITICS

BookList - Mary Carroll

In this circuitous tale of the discovery (or is it a discovery?) of an unknown Raphael (or is it a Raphael?), journalist/art historian Pears introduces pudgy, middle-aged Generale Taddeo Bottando, who maneuvers among government ministries and cultural institutions as head of Italy's National Art Theft Squad, and his young civilian researcher Flavia di Stefano, who is smart, cynical, and silent only when she has to be. And then there's English doctoral candidate Jonathan Argyll, who first suggests that the Carlo Mantini altarpiece in an obscure Roman church may have been painted over a Raphael portrait to permit the Raphael to be sent out of Italy in the eighteenth century. When forgery, fraud, arson, and murder arise, Bottando and di Stefano must determine whether Argyll is part of the problem or part of the solution. Other suspects span the European art world: a British dealer, a French forger, and sundry Italian curators. Believable characters and a neatly layered plot make "The Raphael Affair" an entertaining opener for Pears' promising new series.

AudioFile - Debra M. Whitney

In this fast-moving tale about art forgery, art theft, art dealing and art investigation, Geoffrey Howard has an excellent voice for the different characters, both British and Italian. The listener is carried right along through the Italian museum world, a British art auction and an investigation into possible fraud. The Italian detective, General Bottando, and his female assistant, Flavia di Stefano, are read with flair; the British art historian, Jonathan Argyll, and various members of the commercial art world are spot on. Howard￯﾿ﾽs delivery mirrors the increasing tension in the story right up to the denouement and then relaxes the pace so the listener can enjoy the puzzle￯﾿ﾽs solution. D.M.W. ￯﾿ﾽAudioFile, Portland, Maine

Associated Press

"Presents a world of the author knows well in the satisfying way Margaret Truman and Dick Francis set their mysteries in milieus they know..."

Sunday Times

"[A] clever thriler...Pears balances politics, love and danger nicely in a plot that has a cunning and satisfactory outcome."

Houston Post