The Last Castrato

By John Spencer Hill

Book Overview

"The corpse hung from the cross above the altar, its head slumped forward, its arms hooked crudely over the crosspiece like a pinioned fowl. The body was that of a man in his early fifties, slight and... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312131070
• ISBN13: 9780312131074
• Release Date: January 1
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press
• Length: 269 Pages
• Weight: 0.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.5" x 1.3" x 6.0"

Customer Reviews

written for readers with a brain,

This book is excellent. It's complex and literate. If you are looking for mindless entertainment skip it. I wish there were more Detective Arbati mysteries out there. Also recommended, Madeline Nabb, Carlo Lucarelli, Donna Leon, and Barbara Nadel.

Contrast & Compare your Castratos!

I haven't read this book yet, but others might also wish to see the more complete collection of mostly more favorable reviews of the hardcover edition. Or you could take the author's invitation and get a 3-chapter sample free on his website. I don't know him, but wouldn't want a single opinion to make me miss a good read -- if this is one.

Excellent mystery and more

This is my favorite type of book: a good, solid mystery; set in a beautiful city (Florence); interesting and well-developed characters that you really like; with many allusions to the art world. In short, this book has it all for anyone interested in an absorbing read that has interesting sub-plots. Also in its favor is the fact that all the characters start out in their own seemingly unrelated worlds. But Hill eventually brings them all together in a captivating climax. For lovers of Pears' and Jane Langton's mysteries: get this one and his other Carlo Arbati NOW!

Mystery novel that's intelligent AND a real page-turner.

Set in Florence, Italy, THE LAST CASTRATO is a crime novel with a difference. It concerns the experiences of Cordelia Sinclair, a thirty-two year old graduate student in music from Northwestern University in Chicago, who goes to Italy to research a PhD thesis on early opera and, more importantly, to define a new role for her life after a bad marriage. Hill's knowledge of renaissance music and the cult of the castrati is wonderful (he's an English professor in Canada) and it provides the perfect fodder for a plot. THE LAST CASTRATO is an excellent gripping read as well as being -- and this is rare in the genre -- an intellectually stimulating novel that is elegantly written. I look forward to Hill's next novel with real enthusiasm. THE LAST CASTRATO IS HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.