A DEATH IN CORNWALL

4 stars out of 5

I guess by now I should be used to the fact that the No. 1 guy on my list of Top 10 all-time favorite book "heroes," Gabriel Allon, is retired and making an attempt at a normal life with his wife Chiara and their twins Irene and Raphael. But if I'm honest, I haven't fully acclimated (now that I think about it, neither has Gabriel), so as with the last couple of books in the series - this is the 24th - I really miss the characters from Israel's hush-hush intelligence agency for which he once was a super-spy. But like one of the lead characters in a popular mobster movie series, just when he thought he was out, he keeps getting pulled back in. Maybe it's not quite the same, but a few characters from Gabriel's past do show up and, as always, there's no shortage of action.

Not one to seek the limelight, Gabriel - an accomplished art restorer - comes to London for an art event and ends up embroiled in the murder of Charlotte Black, an art professor and artistic provenance research specialist (i.e., proving history and ownership) who's thought to be the latest victim of  the so-called Chopper." Gabriel learns she was trying to track down a priceless Picasso thought to have been among the countless works of art stolen from Jewish families during the Holocaust (well, actually, there is a price; it's believed to be worth in excess of $100 million). After some sleuthing, Gabriel concludes that in all likelihood, Dr. Blake was not a victim of the serial killer.

Mostly in hopes of finding the stolen Picasso and returning it to its rightful owner, Gabriel takes on the case and, as always, devises an intricate, well-coordinated plan to get it back (the details of the author's plots never fails to amaze me). The chase is fraught with danger (also as always) and means Gabriel must put his own painting skills to the test (a not infrequent occurrence) as well as travel as surrepitiously as possible among several locations including Cornwall. At the latter, he solicits professional assistance from a police detective sergeant he befriended many years earlier. 

There's not much more I can say without revealing too much, so all I can say is there's much more to be revealed by reading it for yourself. Another one well done, and already I'm looking forward to the next installment.

A Death in Cornwall by Daniel Silva (Harper, July 2024); 428 pp.