El Ultimo Caton

Like her previous efforts, El sal""n de mbar (The Amber Room, Debolsillo, 2000) and the best-selling Iacobus (Debolsillo, 2001), Asensi's third novel is a tightly plotted historical thriller. Sister Ottavia Salina, a paleographer and art historian from the Vatican's Secret Archive, must decipher the meaning of the strange tattoos found on the corpse of an Ethiopian man, as well as the three pieces of wood next to him that authorities suspect may be relics of Christ's true cross. Aided by a Coptic archaeologist from Alexandria and a captain from the Swiss Guard, Ottavia becomes enmeshed in a quest for the Staurophylaches, a secret sect that has been systematically stealing relics from Catholic and Orthodox churches around the world. The sect's initiation ritual consists of the expiation of the seven deadly sins, following clues provided in Dante's Divine Comedy. This quest removes Ottavia from her previously sheltered existence, testing not only her intelligence and courage but also her vocation. Asensi admirably blends scholarship with fiction to create believable characters and suspenseful twists. She also conveys a strong sense of place, bringing Byzantium and its past to life. In an interview with the Spanish newspaper The Ecotimes, Asensi stresses how much research went into her writing and praises the recent boom in historical novels. It is a ""necessary phenomenon,"" she claims, ""because we lack a great deal of knowledge about our past."" Recommended for public and academic libraries as well as bookstores. David Pardue, Univ. of Kansas Libs., Lawrence