Suddenly the star of the film, Allan Prime, is reported missing. A short time later, Prime appears on a web cast called Lukatmi (a play on the words look at me) apparently being tortured like his character is in the film. As usual, the Carabinieri and the civil police headed by Leo Falcone are at odds. Both organizations think they should have jurisdiction. In addition, an American policewoman, Catherine Bianchi, who has jurisdiction in the United States where the film studio that produced the film is located, wants a piece of the action.

Without having any of the territorial issues resolved, the film crew, cast and assorted personages return to San Francisco. A traveling exhibit of art objects related to Dante’s Inferno is to accompany the Americans. The question of which Italian organization should go along to ensure the safety of the art objects is unclear with the Carabinieri and Falcone each determined to do the job. Nic Costa, Peroni and, improbably, Teresa Lupo, accompany Falcone. The events that follow weirdly resemble some of the circles of hell described in Dante’s famous work.

Although I have greatly enjoyed several of David Hewson’s prior entries in his Nic Costa series, Dante’s Numbers fails to measure up. The shift of location from Italy to the United States does not work well. There is little reason for either Falcone and company or the Carabinieri to travel to the US where they have no jurisdiction. In addition, it seems that the insurance company responsible for the safety of the traveling art exhibit (who would, logically, hire their own security firm) be the organization to accompany the art objects. The fact that the US police seem eager to accept the help of the Italians stains credibility even more.

To his credit Hewson does have Nic Costa state that he has never traveled out of Europe, and has no knowledge of the American way of doing things, let alone any feel for US geography which plays a part in the novel.

Nic Costa fans will no doubt be a bit encouraged that Nic seems to be recovering from the tragedy of his wife’s death. He meets and hits it off with an American actress, Maggie Flavier. Maggie plays the female lead in the Dante film and provides the opportunity for Hewson to elucidate Nic’s personality a bit further.

Author Hewson, a British citizen, does provide a different view of San Francisco than that given by American authors. For many Americans, Los Angeles, Hollywood and Southern California alone are the center of the film industry. Hewson makes a legitimate case for the significance of San Francisco in the industry. He also presents a look at the importance of publicity, either good or bad, that contributes to box office success.

The final resolution of the story requires many pages of explanation. The reader has little chance to guess the outcome or the perpetrators. The prior information needed is not revealed until the final fifty pages. This necessitates a lengthy explanation of motives. The reader is denied the pleasure of assembling cleverly concealed clues into a workable hypothesis.

Although it was enjoyable to reconnect with Nic, Falcone, and their associates, Dante’s Numbers is one of the weaker entries in this series. I hope to see them back in Italy where they are clearly more comfortable and can teach me something about Italian policing and art history.

--Andy Plonka