Prepare to be utterly captivated by Daniel Silva’s latest masterpiece, A Death in Cornwall, the 24th book in his #1 New York Times bestselling series.
Picking up after the events of The Collector (2023), Silva takes readers back to the English country of Cornwall. Longtime fans will note that this is the fifth book in the series to be (partially) set there, going all the way back to The Kill Artist (2002), where Gabriel Allon—the once wayward son of Israeli intelligence turned famed art restorer—took refuge in the village of Port Navas along the very banks of the Helford River following his first mission, operation “Wrath of God,” a direct response to the 1972 Munich massacre. It was during this time, while recovering from the emotional scars left by a bombing in Vienna that destroyed his first family that Gabriel met then-eleven-year-old Timothy Peel. Now, having returned to Cornwall all these years later, Allon and his second wife, Chiara, hope to live a quiet, peaceful life.
But peace is something Gabriel Allon has never known, and it doesn’t take long for chaos and murder to find him yet again.
Former CIA operative Sarah Bancroft, who now manages an Old Master art gallery, reads early one morning that the identity of a corpse located in Cornwall has been revealed as Dr. Charlotte Blake, a name that she recognizes. Blake, as it turns out, was a professor of art and history at Oxford University and was widely regarded as one of the world’s foremost authorities in the field of provenance research. In fact, Sarah had even picked up a copy of Blake’s latest bestselling book, one that detailed the “turbulent life” of Pail Gauguin. Another bit of news was decidedly more positive, with the main headline announcing that following the recovery of van Gogh’s Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear, which was stolen more than a decade prior, the painting is now ready to be unveiled during a private, invitation-only event at the Courtauld Gallery.
Sarah, of course, is close friends with the restorer who had brought the famous painting back to life. The same man had restored numerous high-profile paintings by Bellini, Titian, Veronese, Caravaggio, Rembrandt, and many others and who was, until recently, chief of the Mossad, Israel’s vaunted foreign intelligence service.
After slipping in for a quick appearance at the Courtauld Gallery, Gabriell Allon is approached by a detective with the Devon and Cornwall Police who needs his help. The detective, one Timothy Peel, now grown up—though he still calls Gabriel “Mr. Allon” much as he did during the days when Gabriel was known simply as the “stranger,” a mysterious newcomer to the seaside village—is investigating the death of Dr. Blake. Peel believes that Blake is the victim of a deranged serial killer running loose across the countryside and requests Gabriel’s help in hopes of unmasking the killer and putting an end to the mayhem.
One theory is that Blake was searching for a looted Picasso worth more than $100 million. But was her murder a connection to that, or something else entirely? To answer that question, Gabriel assembles a team of trusted operatives and old friends—including fan-favorite Christopher Keller—but as he’ll soon learn, things aren’t quite what they seem, and what awaits is a twisting adventure with a whirlwind of suspense that’ll take him from the rugged cliffs of Cornwall to the enchanting island of Corsica, culminating in a jaw-dropping showdown at 10 Downing Street. Much like his beloved hero, Silva only seems to get better with age, and if there was any doubt whatsoever coming into his latest offering that he’s among the genre’s all-time most gifted writers, there won’t be by the book’s end.
A symphony of elegance, suspense, and relentless action, A Death In Cornwall is a dazzling, hypnotic tale of murder and mayhem that showcases Daniel Silva’s unparalleled storytelling and highlights his prowess in the genre today. Prepare to be spellbound until the very last page . . . this is Daniel Silva at his absolute finest.
Book Details
Author: Daniel Silva
Series: Gabriel Allon #24
Pages: 432 (Hardcover)
ISBN: 0063384205
Publisher: Harper
Release Date: July 9, 2024
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