Nic Costa and his fellow detectives aren't very excited
about their latest assignment, babysitting some Italian
relics that are being used to promote a film version of
Dante's Inferno. But very quickly, they figure out
that their job is going to be a lot more convoluted than
that.
The night of the premier, a man rides a horse hell-bent
through the throngs of people, and minutes later, that man
is dead. The priceless relic they were protecting -- a death
mask of Dante -- is gone. Nic, Leo Falcone, Gianni Peroni
and Teresa Lupo find themselves battling the Carabinieri,
Italy's military, who were responsible for protecting the
actors on the movie set.
When an actor disappears, the Carabinieri don't want
regular detectives interfering in their work, even though
Nic and the others believe the disappearances of people and
valuable relics must be linked.
It soon becomes clear someone is connecting the chaos and
crimes surrounding the movie to Dante's nine circles of
Hell. Determined that no one else will get hurt and that
they will recover Dante's death mask, the detectives travel
to San Francisco for the movie's US premiere.
Hewson has captivated readers with his Italian detectives
since book one -- and they'll continue to be enthralled in
DANTE'S NUMBERS. A sharp, complex plot vies with strong
characters to create a story of riveting texture. The only
thing missing is a little more time with Leo and Gianni,
who have been such strong, entrancing characters in the
other stories. This book is primarily about Nic, who is
stumbling into a relationship with one of the movie
actresses.
Anticipated and now, happily received. Thank you, Mr.
Hewson.
It was a warm, golden evening in Rome—a night filled with
anticipation. A legendary director was premiering his new
film version of Dante’s Inferno. From around the
world, celebrities gathered at the Villa Borghese as the
paparazzi thronged among them. But within moments the
event was in chaos. A man was dead. The film’s star was
missing—and a priceless relic had vanished. In David
Hewson’s masterful new novel of suspense, Detective Nic
Costa, numb from the recent death of his wife, finds
himself and his fellow detectives drawn into a strange and
terrifying limbo—the first of Dante’s nine circles of
Hell. While Dante had Beatrice as his guide,
Nic Costa has an enigmatic beauty of his own: a bored
American film actress named Maggie Flavier who decides
that Costa, and no one else, is suited for the job of
protecting her from the danger surrounding the film. As
the premiere shifts locations—from Rome to San Francisco—
Costa leaves Europe for the first time in his life, and is
pulled from his grief and ambivalence by Maggie Flavier
and the city by the bay. Fortunately his fellow detectives
are under no such spell. Charged with protecting a trove
of rare Italian artworks and artifacts, they are also
joining the hunt for a killer who has struck twice again,
leaving behind a tableau of clues that range from Dante’s
deadly cycle of numbers to the films of Alfred
Hitchcock.
Now, with Maggie herself in danger, Nic
must throw off the fog of wonder and infatuation he feels
in the presence of this beautiful woman in all her guises.
But it may already be too late. As evidence points to
connections deep within the Italian Mafia, and the Roman
policemen do battle with a celluloid culture they cannot
quite comprehend, a killer’s chilling plot is closing in
around them—guided by a poet’s medieval vision of sin and
punishment, planned with a modern genius for revenge….
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