The ninth Costa novel <a href="http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/arts/books/fiction/article2907676.ece" target="_blank">is reviewed in today's Times</a> by <a class="zem_slink" title="Marcel Berlins" rel="wikipedia" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcel_Berlins">Marcel Berlins</a>. Marcel comments... 'Hewson presents an atmospheric portrait of a dark, corrupt Rome behind the jolly tourist façade, astutely mixing the historical and the present. This is the ninth in the Nic Costa series, and possibly the best.'

Thank you! Nice to see my name in my old paper again (is it really twenty five years since I left there?) So what's the painting that a clever Times researcher found to illustrate the review? A myth portraying a myth in all probability. As the book recounts one reason for the Cenci story's popularity is the beautiful portrait of her now in the Barberini. Supposedly that was by Guido Reni, painted the night before her execution. This painting depicts Reni and Cenci as he sketched her at that moment. Which probably didn't take place by the way... <a href="http://davidhewson.com/2011/02/beatrice-cenci-the-true-story-tragedy-behind-the-fallen-angel/">as you can read here.</a>

The link above won't work unless you have a subscription that will take you behind the Times paywall. So I hope I'm not breaking any rules by posting a clip of the review from the  web site below.<!--more-->

<a href="http://davidhewson.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Screen-shot-2011-02-12-at-07.28.48.png"><img class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-7456" title="Times reviews The Fallen Angel" src="http://davidhewson.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Screen-shot-2011-02-12-at-07.28.48-640x869.png" alt="" width="640" height="869" /></a>
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