Iain Pears has 4 audiobooks on Listento.it, narrated by 7 narrators, with an average listener rating of 4.6★ across 17 ratings. The most-rated is An Instance of the Fingerpost.
An Instance of the Fingerpost
Summary
Set in Oxford in the 1660s – a time and place of great intellectual, scientific, religious and political ferment – this remarkable novel centres around a young woman, Sarah Blundy, who stands accused of the murder of Robert Grove, a fellow of New College. Four witnesses describe the events surrounding his death: Marco da Cola, a Venetian Catholic intent on claiming credit for the invention of blood transfusion; Jack Prescott, the son of a supposed traitor to the Royalist cause, determined to vindicate his father; John Wallis, chief cryptographer to both Cromwell and Charles 1l a mathematician, theologican and inveterate plotter; and Anthony Wood, the famous Oxford antiquary. Each one tells their version of what happened but only one reveals the extraordinary truth.
©1997 Iain Pears (P)2011 Isis Publishing Ltd
The Last Judgement
Summary
In an exchange of favors with an art dealer colleague, Jonathan Argyll unluckily offers to transport a painting from Paris back to Rome. It seems routine work, and Jonathan gets to meet his girlfriend, Flavia, who works for Rome's Art Theft Squad. But when a would-be thief tries to take the painting at the train station, and the art dealer seems less interested in his purchase once he sees it, Jonathan wonders why, as events unfold, someone is willing to kill for it. With customary wit and panache, Jonathan and Flavia embark on a breathless chase to capture a killer who has been refining his own particular art for many years.
©1993 Iain Pears (P)1997 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
The Raphael Affair
Summary
Set in Rome, The Raphael Affair features the perpetually beset General Bottando of the Italian National Art Theft Squad; his glamorous assistant, Flavia di Stefano; and Jonathan Argyll, a British art historian. When Jonathan is arrested for breaking into an obscure church in Rome, he claims that it contains a long-lost Raphael hidden under a painting by Mantini. The painting disappears - then reappears in the hands of the top British art dealer, Edward Byrnes. How has Byrnes found out about the hidden masterpiece, and whom is he acting for? There is also the curious matter of the safe deposit box full of sketches closely resembling features of the newly discovered painting. A hideous act of vandalism occurs, then murder. Bottando faces the most critical challenge of his career, and Jonathan and Flavia find themselves in unexpected danger.
©1990 Iain Pears (P)1996 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
An Instance of the Fingerpost
Summary
An utterly compelling historical mystery, in the tradition of Umberto Eco and John Fowles. The setting is England in the 1660s. Oliver Cromwell's short-lived republic is a thing of the past, and Charles II has been restored to the throne. At Oxford's New College, fellow Robert Grove is found dead under suspicious circumstances, and a young woman stands accused. We hear from four witnesses: a physician hungry for fame, the son of an alleged traitor, the king's chief cryptographer, and a renowned Oxford antiquarian - only one of whom is telling the rather extraordinary truth. Who is it? Pears' skillful plot-weaving will keep you guessing until the final seconds.
©1998 Iain Pears (P)1998 Audio Renaissance Tapes, a Division of CPU, Inc.