Silva’s 24th entry in the Gabriel Allon series shows no sign of getting stale.  Allon retains his sharp wit, clever repartee, resourcefulness under duress, and ability to solve the thorniest problems.  He’s also evidently a world class art restorer.

I was just about done reading Silva/Allon but I couldn’t resist the title seeing as how Susan and I will be spending three days in Cornwall late next month. I am relieved that Allon and his young friend, an inspector with the Cornwall Devon Police eventually solved the hatchet murders of five women.  A sixth victim was Charlotte Blake, an Oxford professor and art provenance expert who was also murdered with a hatchet, but her murder was a part of an international money laundering operation and a British political scandal.  Allon, in London for the unveiling of a Van Gogh that he had recovered and restored after it had been stolen,   heads to Cornwall to help his young friend, and the next thing he knows he’s chasing down the murderer of Blake and a Jewish doctor killed in Paris while also searching for a Picasso stolen from the doctor’s grandfather during the Holocaust.  The plot is replete with twists and turns, colorful characters, and enough violence and suspense to keep the pages turning.

I learned a fair bit about how the art world is used to launder money, but not much about Cornwall except that it has a beautiful seacoast and lots of hedgerows.  I’ll probably try to resist Silva’s 2025 novel, but I’ll eventually succumb to Kindling it for one of our upcoming trips.  His books are easy reads and help the travel time pass quickly.  Unlike Child and Leon, Silva seems to have found a way to keep the annual contribution to the death of trees remain crisp and readable.

This is a fine book for any airplane or beach you might find yourself on.