Landscape of Lies
Peter Watson, 2005
Answers & Insights, Inc.
378 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781933397184
Summary
Isobel Sadler is dead broke, and the only thing left that might bring in any money is a stupendously bad painting that’s been in her family for generations. It’s so ugly she can’t imagine it would be worth much...until someone tries to steal it.
Mystified, she turns for advice to art dealer Michael Whiting, who identifies the painting as a 16th-century treasure map, pointing the way to a cache of priceless religious artifacts that were hidden by monks when Henry VIII was dissolving the monasteries. If he and Isobel can decipher the clues in the painting, Whiting reasons, her money troubles will be history. But if they can’t decode the painting quickly, Whiting and Isobel could be history themselves.
Even as they struggle to translate the arcane instructions — laced with references to everything from the Bible to Botticelli — a rival is dogging their trail, and he’ll stop at nothing, even murder, to get his hands on the medieval gold. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Where—England, UK
• Education—Universities of Durham, London, and Rome
• Where—CWA Gold Dagger (for Double Dealer)
• Currently—Cambridge, England
Peter Watson is an intellectual historian and author from London, England. He was educated at the University of Durham, University of London, and University of Rome.
He was the deputy editor of New Society, and was on the "Insight" team of the London Sunday Times for four years. He was also the New York correspondent of The Times, and has written for the New York Times, Sunday Times, The Observer, Punch, and The Spectator.
He has also been a television presenter for the arts. In 1997 he was appointed Research Associate, based in London and France, at the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research at the University of Cambridge. He has written thirteen books. (From Wikipedia.)
Book Reviews
When someone tries to steal a medieval painting long owned by her family, Isobel Sadler turns for help to London art gallery owner Michael Whiting. She is amazed to learn that the picture, titled Landscape of Lies , is a "puzzle map'' whose nine male figures each symbolize priceless silver relics that were squirreled away by monks when Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries. Isobel and Michael—who, naturally, fall in love—set out to find the treasure, but an obsessed academic who will stop at nothing, not even murder, stays a few steps ahead of them. Watson, who proved himself a master of the art-world thriller in The Caravaggio Conspiracy, has turned out an amiable entertainment that is more a self-indulgent exercise than a suspense novel. The path to the silver is strewn with red herrings and arcane clues involving Botticelli, the Bible, horticulture, classical lore and medieval iconography
Publishers Weekly
After foiling a determined burglar's attempt to steal an apparently valueless 16th-century painting, Isobel Sadler enlists the aid of art dealer Michael Whiting. Soon convinced the picture reveals the location of long-lost sacred treasures worth millions, the two compete with the mysterious, increasingly ruthless burglar to solve the painted puzzle first. As Michael and Isobel cross London and the countryside, art history, budding romance, and deepening suspense merge in a credible journey related with sustained literariness, refinement, and polish. A wonderful, charming offering from the author of The Caravaggio Conspiracy.
Library Journal
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