Season For The Dead - Softcover

Hewson, David

3.6

2,517 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0330493639 ISBN 13: 9780330493635

Publisher: Macmillan Pub Ltd, 2004

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‘Stefano’s left arm, the one holding the weapon, swept the table, swept everything on it... She was quiet, waiting, which was, his eyes seemed to say, what he wanted. Then Stefano lifted up the bag to the height of the desk, turned it upside down, let the contents fall on the table and said, ‘The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.” ‘

Whilst Sara Farnese pours over ancient texts in the silent Vatican reading room, a brutal murder is taking place in a nearby church. Then suddenly a crazed man enters the Vatican carrying a bloodied bag. He walks up to Sara’s desk. He has something he would like her to see...

Soon Sara us inextricably linked to a series of horrific and cunning murders, each one representative of the death of a martyr of the Church. Into this climate enter Detectives Costa and Rossi, enlisted to track down the killer, and to protect Sara from the horrors he is capable of. It seems that at any time she could be the next chosen sacrifice...

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From the Inside Flap:

In a hushed Vatican reading room, the scene was shocking: a crazed professor shot dead after brandishing evidence of a grisly crime. Moments later, two bodies are found in a nearby church, each with a gruesome calling card from the killer. Thus begins David Hewson's elegant and electrifying new novel. Set amidst a bizarre killing spree in modern Rome, it is a bewitching blend of history and drama, sensuality and suspense.

As the August heat takes Rome in its fiery grip, the news of two brutal murders holds the city in thrall. And as the media gathers and Vatican officials close ranks, a young detective is sent to the forefront of the case. Nic Costa is the son of an infamous Italian Communist, a connoisseur of Caravaggio , and a cop who barely looks his 27 years of age. Thrust into the heart of a killing spree that will rattle his city down to its ancient bones, Nic meets a woman who will soon dominate both his consciousness and his investigation.

A cool, beautiful professor of early Christianity, Sara Farnese was in the Vatican library on that fateful day, a witness to her colleague's strange outburst and death. But her role will become even more puzzling as more bodies are found: Each victim killed in a gory tableau of Christian martyrdom. And each victim had intimately known Sara, whose silence Costa cannot quite crack and whose carnal history becomes more lurid and unfathomable with every revelation.

Soon, a nightmarish chase is implicating politicians and priests -- while at the heart of the matter remains the woman Costa is both investigating and guarding. Wanting to believe in Sara's innocence, Nic still cannot turn his eyes from the truths he is uncovering. Even as the secrets of a woman, a killer and a city begin to unravel...with devastating consequences.

A beguiling mystery, a dazzling treat for the senses, and a fascinating tour of the streets and alleyways of Rome, Nic Costa's relentlessly suspenseful debut is a masterpiece of suspense fiction.?

About the Author:

David Hewson was born in Yorkshire in 1953. He worked as staff writer on THE TIMES from 1978, and has written five novels, as well as several travel books. He is now a weekly columnist for the SUNDAY TIMES. His second novel in the Nic Costa series will be THE VILLA OF MYSTERIES, and will be published in April 2004. David lives in Kent.

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