The Mosaic Crimes (A Dante Alighieri Mystery)

by Giulio Leoni

Book Overview

Mystery advertising This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0151012466
• Release Date: January 2007
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
• Length: 321 Pages
• Weight: 0.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.3" x 1.3" x 6.5"

Customer Reviews

So far, so good . . .

I'd say I'm about 3/4 through, and while this may not be the appropriate time to write a review, I read through books so fast that I can't keep up with my own reviews. So here is a premature but honest review. The author has a certain style that is just right. He doesn't care to impress you the way some writers have to in order to create an artifical ambience that can often be embarrassing. The writer doesn't care about artifice, like Dante, he is going to find out the truth -- he is telling you the tale in such a real and genuine manner that you become immersed in the story while still being able to analyse analytically. The best type of mystery or detective story has this quality. I am impressed with the quality of this story so far, and applaud any modern-day writer who can write such tales with seeming ease. I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys mysteries set in the past, or else anyone who is a fan of Dante Alighieri.

Must Read for Fans of Historical Fiction

Leoni is a must read for fans of historical mysteries. What did Dante Alighieri do before he wrote his masterpiece, The Divine Comedy? Leoni writes that he solved mysteries in this story of the death of an artist.

a terrific historical mystery novel

I totally agree with the mystery book reviewer for the Baltimore Sun who wrote "Historical thrillers don't come more high-concept than this: Dante Alighieri, detective. But Leoni, whose novel reached immediate best-seller status in his native Italy when first published there in 2004, opts for a more low-key approach that keeps intrigue perpetually bubbling under the surface instead of broadcasting it in the reader's face every chapter ending or so.....Leoni's narrative style is equal parts crisp and wry, bolstered by his thorough knowledge of medieval Italy and the Commedia. But it's the human portrait of Dante that makes this brand of mystery memorable." Library Journal wrote in their review "Elegantly written and beautifully translated, the language is descriptive without being flowery, smart without being pedantic."