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    A Season for the Dead: Nic Costa, Book 1
    A Season for the Dead: Nic Costa, Book 1
    A Season for the Dead: Nic Costa, Book 1
    Audiobook12 hours

    A Season for the Dead: Nic Costa, Book 1

    Written by David Hewson

    Narrated by Sean Baker

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    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 twenty-seven 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.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherW. F. Howes Ltd
    Release dateDec 1, 2007
    ISBN9781407414393
    A Season for the Dead: Nic Costa, Book 1
    Author

    David Hewson

    Former Sunday Times journalist David Hewson is well known for his crime-thriller fiction set in European cities. He is the author of the highly acclaimed The Killing novels set in Denmark, the Detective Nic Costa series set in Italy and the Pieter Vos series in Amsterdam. The Killing trilogy is based on the BAFTA award-winning Danish TV series created by Søren Sveistrup and produced by DR, the Danish Broadcasting Corporation. While he lives in Kent, Hewson's ability to capture the sense of place and atmosphere in his fiction comes from spending considerable research time in the cities in which the books are set: Copenhagen, Rome, Venice and Amsterdam.

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    Reviews for A Season for the Dead

    3.5/5

    171 ratings16 reviews

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    • 1/5
      Made it to page 206 out of 386 total. Hewson tries hard to cultivate a sense of place. I wish I could have bonded more with Nic, our protagonist. At the point I set it aside, a little over halfway through, the plot did not beckon. In the end I could only manage a few of the ending paragraphs.
    • 3/5
      Hot, sunny Rome is darkSomeone is murdering people in Rome and draping their bodies in artistic ways imitating stories of early Christian martyrdom. It's weird and also terrifying, and young police detective Nic Costa and his partner, veteran police officer Luca Rossi get pulled into the center of the crime spree.This is the beginning of a new series by David Hewson and I'm a bit ambivalent about it. The murders are gruesome, the multiple POV don't appeal to me much, and the revolting story of the crimes revolts me. Mr. Hewson makes some plotting decisions I'm not sure are the strongest. I think that if I knew Rome and its churches better I would have enjoyed this book better. At least it would have been more personal.I received a review copy of " A Season for the Dead" by David Hewson from Black Thorn press through NetGalley.com.
    • 3/5
      Dit boek kan mij niet echt bekoren. Het verhaal lijkt heel erg veel op De DaVinci code en Het Bernini mysterie van Dan Brown. Toch staat het nog steeds op de lijst van boeken die ik aan het lezen ben. Misschien dat ik gaande weg mijn mening bijstel.
    • 3/5
      Wel spannende detective, Nic Costa is de belangrijkste politieman, er moorden gruwelijk bloederige en werd moorden gepleegd in allerlei Romeinse kerken, steeds verwijzend naar de marteldood van llheiligen. Een corrupte kardinaal blijkt de vader van de moordenaar en van een vrouw, zijn tweelingzus die de vader moest helpen te ontsnappen. De moordenaar en zijn zus hebben pas vlak voordat dit alles in gang werd gezegd begrepen dat wie hun vader Wa en dat zij zelf tweelingen zijn.
    • 5/5
      A terrific first book in a mystery story series set in Rome, featuring Nic Costa as the police detective a little too idealistic for his job. This story involves the Vatican, the aftereffects of the dot-com crash, a serial killer, at least one beautiful woman, and Rome itself. I can't wait to read the next one.
    • 3/5
      I liked the book, it was a quick read. His writing is not that great, but I was able to get past that. This type of story seems to be done a lot, think Angels and Demons.
      I may read another in the series to see if he finds a little more original case.
    • 4/5
      This is the first in a series featuring Nic Costa and Inspector Falcone. Sara Faranese is studying in the Vatican library when a colleague rushes in and frankly whispers, "In the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church." He then displays a pistol and a bag containing the skin of a human being. Fearing for her safety a Swiss guard shoots him dead, much to Sara's consternation, because she realized he wasn't trying to kill her, but to convey a message. Realizing that the flayed skin may have some reference to St. Bartholome and she drags Coasta and his partner Rossi to that saints church where they discover two more flayed bodies, her erstwhile lover and Stefano Rinaldi's wife. Soon others are being killed and posed in bizarre ways that suggest a link to early martyrs.

      Lots of fascinating detail about Rome, Italian customs and how to flay a body. There is a rather gross description of just how to do it (might take about an hour and requires lots of anatomical knowledge and strength) not to mention a reference to some cultures that tried to do it while the victims remained alive. And by the way, now that I have your attention, some Italians enjoy eating offal, prepared in all sorts of garlicy ways. This is apparently from the days when the clergy got all the good parts and the rest were thrown to the proletariat who discovered ways to make it more than palatable. There is a nifty (hmm, perhaps bad choice of words) scene where Costa is invited to dinner with the brilliant pathologist, "crazy" Theresa, and they eat at one of these restaurants. Costa is a vegetarian.

      I liked this book, but it does seem that some of the tantalizing leads, for example the "seed of the church" comment above that appears to be significant early on, never gets linked to anything later on. Lots of neat conspiracy stuff. While the inter-connectivity of some of the characters might stretch one's credibility, the shades of gray in the characterizations are what I found most intriguing about the book.

      Caravaggio's paintings play an important role that I enjoyed. This is probably the book that Dan Brown wishes he could have written. Of other Italian location writers, I would place him closest to Michael Dibdin, if perhaps not quite as intellectual.
    • 3/5
      A very violent, vicious, gruesome and convoluted story. When I finally finished the book I felt the end did not justify the means. I might give Costa one more try.
    • 3/5
      I was riveted by the TV drama "The Killing" and found that David Hewson had written the book. That led me to buy another of his books. It turned out that he hadn't actually written "The Killing" but had adapted the screenplay (written in Danish) to novel form. Anyway, Hewson is not a brilliant writer and A Season for the Dead is just an average story.
    • 4/5
      Nic Costa, young cop, is teamed with experienced cop Luca Rossi, both under the supervision of Falcone, a difficult person to say the least. Murders are taking place near the Vatican in Rome where the murders mimic saint's deaths.Involved is disgraced Cardinal Michael Denney, a Vatican fixer Hanrahan.Nic becomes involved with beautiful Sara Farnese in a complicated situation. Nic's father, a well known Italian communist, plays a role in Nic and Sara's relationship.Well written and enjoyable but tense read.
    • 3/5
      The book was OK. The first chapter got off to a bang but then it became predictable and nothing out of the ordinary for the submject matter. Dan Brownish story line.
    • 5/5
      A SEASON FOR THE DEAD is grisly, almost obscene in its violence. It is a fantastic book. It is the kind of book that I would have closed after the first few pages. It is a book that I just read for the second time.The cover of one edition proclaims it better than the DA VINCI CODE. It is nothing like the DA VINCI CODE. It is about religious fanaticism, the secrecy of the Vatican, and a quote from a writer of church history, but it makes sense. Fanaticism and fantasy are not the same thing.The Publishers’ Weekly review, found on Amazon, pretty much gives the opening of the book away so readers who don’t want the grisly opening can read the PW review and move on to the next chapter but the first chapter establishes one of the central characters, Sara Farnese, a scholar with the coveted access to the reading room of the Vatican Library.On a brutally hot day in August, Sara is engrossed in her research when the quiet is broken by library personel and Swiss Guards who are trying to stop Stefano Rinaldi as he walks toward Sara carrying a supermarket shopping bag. When he reaches her, he empties the contents of the shopping bag onto her desk and says, “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.” The quote is from Tertullian, and early theologian of the church. Rinaldi is also carrying a gun. Softly, he says, “She’s still there, Sara….You must go….Think of Bartholomew. You must know.”Nic Costa and his partner, Luca Rossi, are patrolling St. Peter’s square, looking for pickpockets. Nic is twenty-seven years old and looks seventeen. In a city awash is some of the most extraordianry art ever produced, Nic knows the location of every Caravaggio painting in Rome. Nic tells Rossi of the painting known as the “Madonna of the Pilgrims”, barely a six-minute walk from the square. Rossi asks, “It’s good?” Nic responds, “The feet are really dirty. The Vatican hated it.” [ This picture can be found in the review of CARAVAGGIO'S ANGEL written by Ruth Brandon. A link to the review is on the Authors and Books page of this blog].It is well-known that Vatican City is a country taking up a great deal of space in the city of Rome. Costa and Rossi have no authority in Vatican City but Nic always took his small scanner when he was assigned to the square. He never heard much but on this day he hears the commotion generated by a shooting in the Library Reading Room. Nic insists they need to take a look even if they can’t act. It is in taking the look, that Nic and Rossi meet Sara who knows the Swiss Guards won’t help her. She knows what Rinaldi meant in his mention of Bartholomew and the two Roman police officers are more than willing to assist her.As bodies mount, it becomes clear that the killer is using the paintings of the apocryphal stories about the deaths of the early Christian martyrs as depicted in the churches that bear their names. Stefano Rinaldi and Sara Farnese had been lovers and a link is established between Sara and the victims of the killer. Religion, insanity, and the sexual history of a woman are driving the actions of a madman.Hewson makes frequent reference to Caravaggio’s “Martyrdom of St. Matthew”, a painting hanging in a church where a body is found. In the very back of the painting, over the right shoulder of the killer, is the face of a man who is shocked and appalled by what he is witnessing. It is the face of Caravaggio, a self-portrait, that is mentioned frequently in the story. Is the man who sends the killer on his missions appalled by what he has started? [This small plot connection gives me the opportunity to insert another picture of a Caravaggio masterpiece. The locations of the paintings as mentioned in the story are the actual locations of the paintings in the churches in Rome].In A SEASON FOR THE DEAD, there is murder and fraud and sexual misconduct tied to the hierarchy of the Church. Cardinal Michael Denney is the real villain of the piece because he uses people in furtherance of his own ends without thought to the consequences for those he uses.Costa, Rossi, and their boss, Inspector Falcone, come late to an understanding of the lines, “As I was going to St. Ives, I met a man with seven wives….” A SEASON FOR THE DEAD is a brutal story. The killer is not the worst of the characters. The author writes that every season is a season for the dead, even the hot days of a Roman August. The characters are interesting and very believable. This book is the first in a series, all of which I have read as they were published. A SEASON FOR THE DEAD is a story that is too good to be ignored. Scanning will help get past the worst details. Focusing on the plot and the characters will send the reader to the next in the series THE VILLA OF MYSTERIES.
    • 3/5
      A serial killing priest commits murders by re-enacting the martyrdoms of early catholic saints with his victims. Why ?Because of their connection to a beautiful antiquities professor and a disgraced cardinal. A young idealistic detective and his jaded partner are charged with catching the killer. They finally do so, but not until more deaths occur.The plot was a tad improbable, but the book was intelligent and well- written. Ponderous in parts, it nevertheless held my attention. The locale was a plus. I will read this author again.
    • 3/5
      Not what I'd call a suspensefull thriller butt a pretty good read. Locations are well described and most of the characters and relationships are well developed. I could relate to all except the main female character.
    • 5/5
      I would call this one a quasi-literary mystery. No cozy material here -- if you're expecting a quick read, forget it. It is tangled & convoluted, very much into character development (as a first in a series should be) and the mystery itself is at times a bit complicated. I thought it was an excellent book, myself, a very intelligent thriller.plot review, no spoilersSet in Rome, the story opens in the reading room of the Vatican Library, where professor Sara Farenese is thinking about her upcoming dinner date while reading. The next thing she knows, a friend of hers comes in, dumps the contents of a bag table and out comes the flayed skin of a human being. Thus begins a mystery that involves the Vatican, the police in Rome, and our first introduction to the main characters of this series: young Nic Costa and his older partner Luca Rossi. Some of the scenes in the novel are kind of grisly, but the author doesn't dwell on them for too long. Season for the Dead is a suspenseful police procedural that will keep you reading for a long time.
    • 3/5
      There's gruesome death. Intrigue in the Vatican. Crazy priests. No, it's not The Da Vinci Code. And, while this book is moderately better written than Dan Brown's best-selling tome, it plods along and becomes quite boring. Just not a very enjoyable novel. I slogged through it.