A Season for the Dead

The Rome Series: Book 1

By: David Hewson

Narrated by: Sean Baker

In a hushed Vatican reading room, the scene was shocking: a crazed professor shot dead after brandishing evidence of a grisly crime. Moments later, two bodies are found in a nearby church, each with a gruesome calling card from the killer.

As the August heat takes Rome in its fiery grip, the news of the two brutal murders holds the city in thrall. And as the media gathers and Vatican officials close ranks, a young detective is sent to the forefront of the case. Nic Costa is the son of an infamous Italian Communist, a connoisseur of Caravaggio, and a cop who barely looks his 27 years of age. Thrust into the heart of a killing spree that will rattle his city down to its ancient bones, Nic meets a woman who will soon dominate both his consciousness and his investigation.

A cool, beautiful professor of early Christianity, Sara Farnese was in the Vatican library on that fateful day, a witness to her colleague's strange outburst and death. But her role will become even more puzzling as more bodies are found: Each victim killed in a gory tableau of Christian martyrdom. And each victim had intimately known Sara, whose silence Costa cannot quite crack and whose carnal history becomes more lurid and unfathomable with every revelation.

Soon, a nightmarish chase is implicating politicians and priests, while at the heart of the matter remains the woman Costa is both investigating and guarding. Wanting to believe in Sara's innocence, Nic still cannot turn his eyes from the truths he is uncovering. Even as the secrets of a woman, a killer and a city begin to unravel...with devastating consequences.

©2003 David Hewson (P)2003 W F Howes Ltd

Happy to get the early Costas

Having started in the middle of series and working my way to the end, I'm really pleased that Audible now has most of the Nic Costa series available.

This is a solid start, and its interesting to see where the characters had come from. Now...onto book 2.

worth the read

David Hewson has written a series of books set in Italy. This book, A Season for the Dead, is early in the series. The author describes Detective Nic Costa as his main character but after reading the series it appears that there are several main characters each developed in each of the books. The other main characters, Leo, a Chief Inspector, Lucca killed off early and Gionni, Teresa a female pathologist and Emily, a former FBI agent turned architect are all equally interesting and as developed as Nic Costa.

The author does a good job of researching the background of the stories and placing them in familiar landmarks of Rome. While there is occasional culture confusion with a British author writing about Italian police in Rome and being read by an American, the stories usually work. This one is no exception. The villain is always one step ahead of the police and barely has time to commit the most heinous and despicable crimes. The crimes in Season all revolve around the secret and not so healthy life of an American Cardinal in the Vatican. But, if you are reading this genre, you are used to the grisly deaths and the bizarre plot turns. And David Hewson does a good job at all these things.

I would advise reading the series in the order the books were written but I didn't do it that way and it has not been a real barrier since the main characters are each developed in each book.

At the end of his last book, The Lizard Bites, there is an excellent interview with the author that helps put the entire series in better perspective.

Good Book ... Horrible accents

What aspect of Sean Baker’s performance would you have changed?

The accents he affected for the various characters were horrible ... very distracting. The worst were when he voiced women. They sounded exactly like Peter Lore!

Couldn't finish the story, too much graphic violence and gruesome descriptions

It started out interesting but it got really too much graphic violence and gore to the victims to make the story enjoyable.

Too graphic for me

I've listened to other David Hewson books that I liked. This one I did not like.

English in Italy

A very good story with good narration, but as the argot is very English it's hard to get over the supremely depressing thought that the book takes place in a universe where all the Italians have been body snatched and replaced with Englishman. Not a knock on the English -- it's be equally depressing if they were replaced with Americans, or Peruvians. If it were written in a style that even hinted that the characters were Italian, I'd give it 4 stars.