Voltaire's calligrapher

De Santis has fashioned an appropriately sinister if slim steampunk mystery set in the age of Voltaire. Although Enlightenment reasoning is inspiring forward-thinking writers, philosophers, and scientists, the forces of ignorance, represented primarily by organized religion, are fighting to retain their viselike grip on the hearts and the souls of the general population. When Voltaire dispatches Dalessius, a talented young calligrapher with a flair for conjuring up all manner of inky deceits, to investigate a plague of questionable miracles sparked by the prosecution and conviction of an innocent man accused of murdering his own son, Dalessius becomes ensnared in a deeper mystery involving the production and distribution of automatons. Richly imagined and vividly textured, this darkly humorous romp through a convoluted age of reason will appeal to fans of offbeat historicals.--Flanagan, Margaret Copyright 2010 Booklist

Set in 18th-century France, this brief, rambling novel from Argentine author De Santis will disappoint those expecting another sparkler like his 2008 mystery, The Paris Enigma. At age 20, Dalessius, who's trained as a calligrapher, travels to Ferney, near the Swiss border, where the philosopher Voltaire hires him as a file clerk. The job is a second chance for the young man, who substituted a blank page for the verdict sheet in a capital case, a stunt that prevented a murderer's execution. Voltaire dispatches Dalessius to Toulouse to prepare documents needed for the execution of a man convicted of the crime of hanging his son, who was on the verge of converting from Calvinism to Catholicism. While the author provides social insights into Enlightenment-era France, the murky plot developments make for a less than gripping read. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

The crumbling medieval world casts long shadows over emerging modernity in De Santis's second mystery to be translated into English (The Paris Enigma, 2008).Dalessius the calligrapher trained in a dying art, exquisitely inscribing the edicts of a tottering aristocracy while the printing press spread revolutionary ferment. After writing a verdict in disappearing ink, he is packed off to serve another subversive, the renowned philosopher Voltaire. Voltaire sends Dalessius to Toulouse to investigate the trial of a Huguenot accused of killing his son before he could convert to Catholicism. Illicitly searching their home, Dalessius finds books filled with the son's suicidal marginalia. But the bloodthirsty crowd, whipped up by extremist White Penitents, continue to attribute miracles to the dead boy and demand his father's execution. Unable to head off the gruesome outcome, Dalessius turns to a more intriguing mystery. The hearse that bore him to Toulouse also carried the body of an impossibly lovely young woman whom he now spies alive and well in a shrouded house. When Dalessius approaches her, the White Penitents slaughter a score of women before they slit her throat bloodlessly, revealing that she is a clockwork automaton. Dalessius returns to Paris to find the maker of such a marvel, and the iron power of the Church that would crush it.While the prose is richly reminiscent of Umberto Eco, the headlong pace of this dark fantasycombining elements of mystery, historical fiction, horror and the splinter genre clockpunkwill let readers swallow the entrancing story in a single gulp.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.