An Instance of the Fingerpost »

Like his popular art history mysteries, Iain Pears s erudite historical novels are as well researched and intricately plotted as they are suspenseful and colorful. With 1998's The Instance of the Fingerpost, his first break from the art-centered Jonathan Argyll series, Pears evoked the most rapturous praise of his career.

We are in Oxford in the 1660s - a time, and place, of great intellectual, scientific, religious and political ferment. Robert Grove, a fellow of New College is found dead in suspicious circumstances. A young woman is accused of his murder. We hear about the events surrounding his death from four witnesses: Marco da Cola, a Venetian Catholic intent on claiming credit for the invention of blood transfusion; Jack Prescott, the son of a supposed traitor to the Royalist cause determined to vindicate his father; John Wallis, chief cryptographer to both Cromwell and Charles II, a mathematician, theologican and inveterate plotter; and Anthony Wood, the famous Oxford antiquary. Each witness tells their version of what happened. Only one reveals the extraordinary truth.

An Instance of the Fingerpost is a magnificent tour de force: an utterly compelling historical mystery story with a plot that twists and turns and keeps the reader guessing until the very last page.

Los Angeles Times Book Review

Fascinating...quite extraordinary...elevates the murder mystery to the category of high art.