The new Costa novel is hailed as ‘the best yet’

The sixth Nic Costa novel, The Garden of Evil, is now out and winning rave reviews. The Daily Express describes it as ‘even more gripping than its predecessors’.

Margaret Cannon, in the Toronto Globe & Mail, says the series is one of her favourites, and adds, ‘The Garden of Evil is the best book so far in the Costa series, and that’s saying a lot. But Hewson takes his plotting here a giant step further than in the usual cop/chase story.’

It was Book of the Month in this month’s Choice Magazine which said: ‘David Hewson is on top form with this novel, taking his readers on a gripping journey through the streets of the Eternal City’. Crimesquad, which makes David author of the month, gives the book a five-star review and says, ‘This is a heady concoction of classic crime novel elements, perceptive characterisation and illuminating historical detail, all set in exotic locations and brilliantly told by a master storyteller.’

Margaret Cannon, in the Toronto Globe & Mail…

The Nic Costa series, set in Rome, is one of my favourites. Hewson sets his stories so firmly in place that it’s possible to go from street to piazza to alley, and almost feel the stones of the walks or touch the ancient Roman bricks. The Garden of Evil is the best book so far in the Costa series, and that’s saying a lot, but Hewson takes his plotting here a giant step further than in the usual cop/chase story.

The first chapter, The Little Death, sets the scene. A dapper widower named Aldo Caviglia heads out into his city. Aldo is a native Roman, well acquainted with the city’s history, arts, myths and mysteries. For most of his life, he was a baker. But when his wife died, he developed a drinking problem and lost his job. Since then, he’s made his living as a pickpocket. He specializes in lady tourists. His excellent English and perfect knowledge of streets and trams give him instant entrée to the lost and tired.

He is careful, stealing only what he needs and passing a bit along to the poor. On this day, Aldo “assists” a very attractive and unusual woman. After he lifts her wallet, he realizes she is ill and he has her medicine. He decides to go after her and return her belongings, but that decision, made all for the good, turns things very bad. The opening, building to a brilliant death scene, sets the stage for the rest of the book. This is no ordinary murder, Nic Costa realizes at once. The woman Aldo robbed and followed was one of the foremost art experts in Europe, and she and Aldo are dead in front of a magnificent painting, an unknown Caravaggio that is worth millions.Nic soon surmises why the victims were murdered, and by whom, but he can’t touch the killer, who is protected by money and lawyers. How will Costa, never content to play the quiet cop game, find justice for the dead?

Crimesquad gives the book a five-star rating…

This is an absorbing mystery by David Hewson. As a newcomer to Hewson’s writing and, in particular, to the Nic Costa series, I thought that the characters and plot lines might be impenetrable to a new reader. I needn’t have worried. The brutal personal tragedy at the beginning of the book means that the detective has to review the case through fresh eyes, and this narrative device allows the reader to enter the world of murder in modern day Rome without any preconceptions.

The plot revolving around the rediscovered Caravaggio is a plausible one and the author is obviously knowledgeable about the painter’s work. This means that the reader can enjoy not only the hunt for the killers but learn about life in Caravaggio’s seventeenth century Rome.

Perhaps the most memorable character in the book is the lay sister, Agata Graziano. The novel sees her metamorphose from a dowdy art buff to a mature woman who questions her religious life. Nic Costa’s role in this transformation is subtly told, although coming on the heels of his recent personal tragedy this might prove too much for some readers.

This is a heady concoction of classic crime novel elements, perceptive characterisation and illuminating historical detail, all set in exotic locations and brilliantly told by a master storyteller.

Peter Burton in the Daily Express

The Garden of Evil is the sixth in the Costa series and is even more gripping than its predecessors. Hewson is a cunning storyteller… What follows is a deadly cat-and-mouse game during which the body count steadily rises and Roman history once again proves to be a vital component in the case. The Garden of Evil is impossible to put down.

Mike Ripley, in a review at Shots Magazine, writes…

Modern Italy has long been a popular location for crime novels written by non-Italians. I remember with great pleasure Reginald Hill’s Another Death In Venice from 1976 and the late Michael Dibdin, in his pre-Aurelio Zen days, cut his teeth with A Rich Full Death ten years later before going on to dominate the field. Many others have dipped a fork into the pasta sauce of Italian crime: the late Sarah Caudwell, the late Magdalen Nabb and, I hear you scream, Donna Leon.

For my money, though, the best practitioner of this “outsider’s” art is Yorkshireman David Hewson who has been clocking up the plaudits with his series set in Rome featuring the cop duo Costa and Peroni. His new title is The Garden of Evil... and I have been privileged to read an advance copy and very good is it too.

Bolton News

A real twister of a tale, this is the sixth novel in Hewson’s atmospheric and addictive series.

Choice magazine

David Hewson is on top form with this novel, taking his readers on a gripping journey through the streets of the Eternal City.

BooksDirect

As seductive as Rome itself, the Nic Costa series is among the great delights of modern crime fiction. Full of devilish plots and outrageous twists, this is a thriller from the top drawer.

From the Birmingham Post

‘…a genuine thrill-a-minute rollercoaster ride through the corruption of modern Rome…Those fans who love their crime fiction in an Italian setting were dealt a double blow last year with the deaths of Michael Dibdin and Magdalene Nabb, but they should not despair, for David Hewson has emerged as a major player in crime writing’s Serie A. The Nic Costa series is seriously good and well worth buying in to.’