In the PREQUEL to the MIKKY DOS SANTOS THRILLERS – Josephine Lavelle, a once-famous opera singer who became an international outcast, has one last opportunity to resurrect her career.
She was born to sing Puccini’s Tosca and is determined to earn the right to perform again on the world’s most prestigious and celebrated stages. NOTHING must detract from her last chance.But her fight for the … last chance.
But her fight for the future she craves is derailed when her ex-husband embroils her in a cynical blackmail plot. She is forced to take possession of a solid gold icon, part of a secret hoard of art treasures stolen by the Nazis – that dangerous men are prepared to kill for.
As well as determining the fate of the Golden Icon, Josephine must come to terms with her past, and fight for her own life.
If only her choices were simple…
A gripping, page turning crime thriller. You will be hooked on the secrets of this surprising protagonist.
Set in Lake Como (Italy), Dublin (Ireland) and Munich (Germany) – this international crime thriller will leaving you rooting for this unusual and feisty protagonist until the twist at the very end.
For fans of female protagonists and readers of crime thrillers in the style of Donna Leon, Estelle Ryan, Laura Morelli, CJ Lyons and Carmen Armato.
★★★★★ “I rarely give a book 5 Stars but Golden Icon deserves the highest. A clever and totally original story that kept me reading far into the evening when I had other things to do. Easy reading so if you start get ready to be pulled in to an intimate story you will find hard to put down.”
★★★★★ “This is a rich, literate, complex examination of who owns art and how it is valued. It is also a thriller, with several villains and unexpected dangers.”
★★★★★ “This is a fabulous book especially for those who love a long book to read. The storyline is so totally different to what I normally read but it had me up at all hours reading further & further to find out the ending.”
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Very well written tale; however, it is almost a horror story. The overwhelming feeling of foreboding the author elicits is constant throughout the entire book. The protagonist, Josephine, is self centered, selfish, headstrong, prideful. She IS Tosca.
This was a really good read. The descriptions are so clear you really feel like you are there. I found it difficult to like Josephine but still found myself rooting for her anyway. A washed up opera star and she has one last chance to get her career back, then her ex- husband begins blackmailing her and things really derail from there. I enjoyed the drama of the characters and they way they played off each other.
This book is described as a prequel to ‘Masterpiece’, but is actually the back story of one of the characters in that book, an opera singer, Josephine Lavelle, who has somewhat fallen from grace.
The storyline very much revolves around Josephine’s attempt to restart her career by singing Tosca at the opening of a new opera house, but then expands into an international art crime tale.
The pace of the book is rather variable, at times the story really rolls along at an exciting pace, but then there are periods where Josephine is reflecting on her past where things slow down significantly, there are other times when the author suddenly introduces some very detailed descriptions of places, people or even emotions, which are well written, but for me they sometimes seem to be at inappropriate points of the story, and rather break up the flow of the writing.
I have absolutely no knowledge of opera or indeed of Tosca, and I think that this hindered my enjoyment of this book.
The storyline is definitely original and the characters are very well fleshed out, but I did find the relationships rather confusing, as several of them are actually never explained, perhaps the reader is supposed to imply the nature of them, but I found this difficult.
Overall, despite the comments above, I did mostly enjoy the book, but I think that it would have benefitted from some editing.
She was once a famous opera singer but life got bad and she was now out in the wilderness. She is about to try again but her ex husband gets her involved with a plot involving a gold bar. Now she is in trouble and now she now needs to try to find out what is going on.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Golden Icon: Culture Crime Series (The Prequel) – Female Protagonist by Janet Pywell is a great story to read. I so enjoyed reading this great story and I highly recommend this story for everyone who loves a mystey. I loved this story.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
This is the first in a wonderful series using cultural items as the backdrop. Start here then continue on.
Book moves really fast since you are wanting to know what is going to happen. Very suspenseful.