A Review and Synopsis of "The Immaculate Deception"

Written by: Iain Pears
Flavia was a head of detective whatever for art thievery whatever. Prime Minister Sabauda contacted her when the head curator of the museum, Macchioli lost a painting. Actually, the painting was stolen. It was stolen this way: the thief, who was wearing a Da Vinci mask went inside the museum, took hold of the painting Cephalus and Procris, which was painted by Claude whoever, based on Ovid’s story. The thief went out of the museum with it, having the employees put in a van at gunpoint and handed out Belgian chocolates. What a dramatic way of stealing. Flavia recovered the gun used by the thief, which was thrown away before driving off.
Flavia made further investigation and she found out by asking people, that the thief was Marizio Sabbatini. According to her mentor and friend, Taddeo, who also suggested Sabbatini, it’s just Sabbbatini who’s only capable to pull off such stunts.
After long hours of reading, at last, the book fed me something valuable, like Sabby finally asked for a ransom. It’s against the law to pay ransom, so Flavia was thinking about what to do, when an anonymous package arrived, with three million dollars on it. With further investigation, Flavia found out that the money was from Sabby’s brother-in-law, Di Lanna. Di Lanna knew that it was Sabbatini, so to avoid family name’s embarassment, he volunteered to pay the ransom, but he got the money from Sabby’s bank account. How he did that was also a mystery to me.
Swapping was about to made Friday night, Flavia was there with Taddeo. Taddeo, on the other hand, was afraid for Flavia’s life so he investigated on his own, and discovered that Sabby want something, and it was not money. Sabby’s sorella, Maria Di Lanna, was murdered years ago, and the case was just dropped because they didn’t find who did it. Sabby wanted the report, which was in the hands of Taddeo, but Taddeo wasn’t aware. It was just passed into his office from the former general, who just happened to die months ago.
Sabby was murdered, drowned in the tub of plaster, when he was about to take a bath, and Taddeo saw it, but shut his mouth because he didn’t want something to make his retirement postponed. Dossoni, the so-called journalist did it. Taddeo retrieved the painting, but hid, because he can’t think of an excuse how the heck he found it.
Taddeo made sure that he was the one to swap with Sabby. Sabby was dead, so he had no chance to show up, so Taddeo went to the dark corner, dropped the money and took the Claude painting. He’s fooling himself, there’s no one to swap with, you know. Then, he gave the money to Mary Verney, who was his lover.
Flavia took the painting from Taddeo and acted as if nothing happened. Taddeo disappeared, but I won’t leave you guessing where he went. He went to Mary Verney’s house in Tuscany.
Flavia soon discovered that Sabby had been dead couple of days before the swapping. She was after the money.
Meanwhile, Jonathan Argyll, Flavia’s husband, was on his own way finding out about an Immaculate Concepcion painting he saw on Taddeo’s apartment. He therefore realized that it was stolen so many times, and it was Mary Verney who gave it to Taddeo.
I don’t know what happened but the book ended this way: They all realized that Di Lanna was after the Sabbatini wealth, so he killed Maria Di Lanna (got her shot and dumper her somewhere public) and years after, he had Maurizio killed too. Maurizio stole the painting because he wanted Taddeo to go public about Maria’s death, in exchange for it. He’s the only person who knew the truth. Taddeo explained to the Newly Weds, and they were okay when Dossoni showed up, and wanted the four of them dead (Jon, Flavia, Taddeo and Mary), under Di Lanna’s order.
After long and boring exchange of creative litany and dramatic conversation, Flavia and Di Lanna agreed to keep each other’s mouth, just by having a deal to leave each other alone. Flavia was willing to put Di Lanna behind bars, then what? Same corrupt official will succeed his office, and Flavia’s right about thinking that she was just wasting energy. In exchange for her silence, Di Lanna would do nothing about on Flavia and Jonathan’s life.
The couples resigned their jobs, because Jonathan sold his collection, and made as much the three million dollars. Mary Verney kept the money, but they agreed to give it to charity, little by little.
What’s so deceptive about the Immaculate Concepcion painting? I don’t see its significance in the novel. The title “The Immaculate Concepcion” was totally captivating, but when you started reading it, you’ll wish that you’ve never bought it. Another thing, thieves in this book was proud of themselves. You read it right, they’re “proud of themselves”. It’s just like when someone asks you, what do you do for a living, and the you square your shoulders, bob your chest out and stuck your chin up high, and say, “I steal paintings and pictures,”
Stealing is a profession, and that’s what the book was trying to say. If I steal, even it’s just a hanky or candy, I’d surely feel guilty about it, and I won’t tell it to anyone, or admit it publicly. But in the book, the thieves are just so… proud, is the right word.

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