The Brotherhood of the Holy Shroud

October 30, 2006
For readers who can't get enough of the religious suspense genre, here's a heaping helping of more of the same. When the unidentified body of a tongueless man turns up in the ashes of a suspicious fire in the Turin cathedral, home of the Holy Shroud of Turin, Marco Valoni, director of the Italian Art Crimes Department, investigates. This gruesome find reflects a pattern of tongueless men and mysterious fires that goes back many years and centers on the shroud. A history of Jesus' burial cloth through the ages alternates with a modern mystery involving several shadowy, anonymous groups of powerful, wealthy men, who either want to steal the sacred cloth or protect it. Marco and his band of art crimes cops and researchers must piece together who wants what and why. This was a bestseller in Europe, and while Navarro never gets up to Da Vinci Code
speed, she does neatly solve the pesky problem of just why carbon dating puts the age of the shroud at the 13th or 14th century.

This European bestseller concerns a plot to steal the Shroud of Turin and possess its supposed power. Mixing history and plausible fiction, the story follows police investigator, and art historian, Marco Valoni as he races to stop the theft. The historical vignettes give context, and are a nice counterpoint, to Valoni's situation, and the action is continuous. James Langton's expressive voice is calm, almost serene, and fits well with this abridgment. He gives credible accents and voices to the characters--male, female, ancient Hebrew, or modern Italian. All are performed with skill and appropriate expression. Narrative sections are performed consistently and with the same skill. All this makes for splendid listening. M.T.F. (c) AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine