Iain Pears brit
1955. –
Katalógusnév | Pears, Iain |
---|---|
Nem | férfi |
Honlap | italian-mysteries.com/IPap.html |
Életrajz |
Könyvei 14
Kapcsolódó sorozatok: Jonathan Argyll angol · Összes sorozat »
Népszerű idézetek
Her erstwhile boss, now gone on to greater things, was one of those who liked formulating universal laws about life, which he delivered as aphorisms that came back to haunt you at inappropriate moments.
„Politicians,” he said once over a glass of brandy following a long lunch. "Politicians can ruin your day. Ministers, on the other hand, can ruin your week.”
„And prime ministers?” Flavia had asked.
"Prime ministers? Oh, they can ruin your life.”
She’d phoned the Interior Ministry with an important message only to be told that every secretary, under-secretary, deputy under-secretary, everyone, in fact, from minister to floor-sweeper, was busy. And what was the excuse? Some foreign delegation in town for a beano at the public expense. Top-level meetings. International accords. Mutterings of civil servants and lawyers in dark corners on legal and financial regulations and how to get round stipulations from Brussels. How to obey the letter, and disregard the meaning. All over the continent, similar meetings were taking place. That’s what unity is all about. Fiddlesticks. No wonder the country was going to the dogs.
Not only was the art market in a bit of a slump; the drop in prices had triggered a knock-on effect in the world of crime as well. Or maybe all reputable art thieves had bought package tours for Czechoslovakia, the one place in Europe now where it was even easier to steal art than Italy.
A pity, but there you are. That’s government for you. Over the years, it accumulates all sorts of strange people. The fusspots, the incompetents, the downright malevolent. Don’t you think? They silt up the works, but for some reason no one ever thinks of getting rid of them.”
“You speak from experience.”
He smiled. “Believe me. Personally, I think there should be a revolution every twenty-five years. Clear everyone out, and start again. Mao was right, although it’s a bit unfashionable to say that nowadays.”
And perhaps his case would seem stronger if he left out the information that he had it from the horse’s mouth, so to speak. Flavia was unlikely to be impressed by being told his evidence came from a Byzantine Emperor who’d been dead for over four centuries. It cuts into your credibility.
A brief glance disclosed a woman of, I suppose, about nineteen or twenty years of age, of average height but unnaturally slim of build—none of the plumpness that endows true Beauty. Indeed, my medical self half-wondered whether she might have a tendency to consumption and might benefit from a pipe of tobacco every evening.