DANIEL SILVA: A Death in Cornwall

A subset within the main series of Gabriel Allon adventures, this is a sequel to the previous year’s The Collector. Having retired (conveniently, given current events in Israel/Palestine) from his role as head of Israel’s secret service, Gabriel is concentrating on his other career as an art restorer in Venice. Lured by an old friend to investigate a murdered art historian in Cornwall, he is soon caught up again in the shameful saga of the trade in Old (and New) Masters, especially those stolen by the Nazi hierarchy in World War Two from Jewish owners deported to the death camps.

The trail leads to Corsica and Monaco and the so-called Freeport in Geneva (which really exists) where paintings are stored and traded, along with other assets and property transactions and cash on a tax-evading basis, by some of the world’s richest people, including heads of state and Russian oligarchs. Silva ties all this in with the pending resignation of a short-lived female prime minister in Downing Street, which certainly gives this tale an extra “bite”.

Here, again, is Daniel Silva in “caper” mode, although with murders and abductions the story is almost as high-tensioned as one of his international terrorism thrillers. Several familiar characters are in the supporting cast. I found myself mentally adapting A Death in Cornwall for the cinema or Netflix, with George Clooney as Allon and Catherine Zeta-Jones as the cat-burglar turned part-time secret agent. It would make a terrific movie, with hefty dollops of the humour and glamour of the 1955 Cary Grant/Grace Kelly To Catch a Thief.

This is Daniel Silva “lite”, but a cracking good story and a real page-turner.