A Nineteenth-Century Turkish Detective on the Trail of a Missing Painting or Texas Rangers and a Bloody Desert Gun Fight.

June 03, 2011

Join us at the Antioch Branch on June 27 at 7:00 p.m. to discover the resolutions to these widely different mysteries. 

The Bellini Card by Jason Goodwin. The new sultan, Abdulmecid, has learned of the possible location for a lost Bellini painting. This missing masterpiece, a portrait of Mehmed the Conqueror, may be in Venice. Yashim, the sultan’s eunuch detective, is asked to locate the painting, but the sultan’s advisers make it very clear that they are against any extravagant repurchase of the painting. Yashim sends his Polish ambassador friend, Palewski, to visit Venice. When he arrives in disguise, there is a killer at large as dealers and other unknown factions seek to uncover the whereabouts of the missing Bellini.  But is it the Bellini itself or something associated with its original loss that is leading to multiple deaths? And, why are the killer’s victims all associated with the alluring Contessa d’Aspi d’Istria? Only Yashim can uncover the truth to these manifold mysteries.

Strong Enough to Die by Jon Land. Caitlin Strong’s father and grandfather were both Texas Rangers. Caitlin was a ranger too, until a deadly shoot-out along the Mexican border ended her career. Five years later, a shattering discovery reopens old wounds and reopens the investigation into the truth behind the bloody desert firefight. A terrifying plot is uncovered that reaches into every home and threatens the very core of the country. Caitlin is forced to team up with Cort Wesley Masters, a deadly outlaw who has every reason to want her dead, but he holds the key to the truth that she is desperately seeking. Caitlin's personal quest for answers ranges from Washington to Bahrain to the wastelands of Mexico.  In the end, she finds that the strength to live comes from learning how to die.  

James H.
Antioch Branch