Artifact: A Peter Grant Mystery

Rating:
Summary: hardly sophisticated!!
Review: A very trite, thin story with a leading man who is so infantile and boring I could toss the book against a wall! Witty? I suppose if "wit" is him constantly laughing at dumb remarks. It is just too much to believe that all of Venice's [good looking] women would find him even worth bothering with much less irresistable. With the exception of the commissario and the princess (who are at least two dimensional)all the characters in this book are so shallow and repellent! The "mystery" degrades into a silly contrived mess. If you are looking for a truly sophisticated, intelligent and TRULY witty set of Venice mysteries read Donna Leon's commissario Brunetti series. From a previous review I had hoped for a similar quality of novel, but alas....NOT!!! Also, the punctuation and writing style seem amateur. Save your precious reading time for anything else.

Rating:
Summary: hardly sophisticated!!
Review: A very trite, thin story with a leading man who is so infantile and boring I could toss the book against a wall! Witty? I suppose if "wit" is him constantly laughing at dumb remarks. It is just too much to believe that all of Venice's [good looking] women would find him even worth bothering with much less irresistable. With the exception of the commissario and the princess (who are at least two dimensional)all the characters in this book are so shallow and repellent! The "mystery" degrades into a silly contrived mess. If you are looking for a truly sophisticated, intelligent and TRULY witty set of Venice mysteries read Donna Leon's commissario Brunetti series. From a previous review I had hoped for a similar quality of novel, but alas....NOT!!! Also, the punctuation and writing style seem amateur. Save your precious reading time for anything else.

Rating:
Summary: A thoughtfully constructed, highly satisfying tale
Review: Grant Geddes' Artifact: A Peter Grant Mystery is an intriguing tale following the sophisticated and urbane art sleuth Peter Grant, a man who becomes entangled in the politics and underground of Venice when he is summoned to track down a stolen masterpiece. A thoughtfully constructed, highly satisfying tale of intrigue, deceit, theft and murder, Artifact is enthusiastically recommended reading for anyone who enjoys a well crafted mystery. The first in a planned series of Peter Grant mysteries, Artifact will leave mystery buffs eagerly looking forward to another encounter with this urban and witty New Yorker.

Rating:
Summary: Shame on the Publisher and Author
Review: Shame on the publisher and author for putting this morass of grammatical and typographical errors in front of the buying public. When I counted 30 such errors in the first 75 pages I gave up and stopped counting. Mr. Geddes have you no shame? Could you not make sure your book was properly proofread.

Now to go on to the the actual story. I would hardly call it original. The Commissario character is borrowed from Donna Leon's fine novels. However, the Commissario here is a bore compared to her Commissario Brunetti. Geddes steals the aging Princess character from the Venetian mysteries of Edward Skeplowich. The mystery plods along with some nice scenery. The author practically hangs a red flag around the neck of the murderer pages and pages before he is revealed. Other plot point clues are also telegraphed by the author. It doesn't take much talent to figure out the resolution of the puzzle, just as it's obvious there isn't much talent on display in this novel. However, I give it one star for reminding me of the exquisite La Serenissima and it's unique ambiance. If you love Venice read it for that purpose only. Otherwise read Donna Leon's mystery novels instead. They are intelligent, astute and entertaining, something this novel definitely is not.