Latest review ahead of the US release on April 26...

<strong>THE FALLEN ANGEL</strong>

By David Hewson<em>
352 pages. Delacorte Press. $25.</em>

Mr. Hewson’s crime novel, the ninth in a series, is like a satisfying “Law &amp; Order” episode set in modern-day Rome. Nic Costa is the young detective who, in the opening scene, is trying to figure out how to kiss a woman while they’re each holding a gelato. A moment later they hear screams nearby. A man had apparently stepped out onto scaffolding for a smoke when it gave way. The man’s beautiful teenage daughter clings to his broken body. What at first appears to be an accident soon seems to mirror a crime committed four centuries earlier, when a young woman was said to have murdered her incestuous father. Costa and his partners are on the case, mulling evidence over fatty Florentine salami. Although the pacing tends to reflect the book’s languid Rome-in-August setting, the ending is the rich tiramisu we’ve waited for.