THE SERPENT PAPERS By Jessica Cornwell. Quercus. $29.99.
Jessica Cornwell is the granddaughter of David Cornwell, aka John le Carré, but there are no genetic fictional links in her debut novel The Serpent Papers, the first in her "Nightingale" trilogy. The book, set mostly in Barcelona and Mallorca, has been publicised as a "literary Da Vinci Code" but it has much more in common with the complex Spanish mysteries of Carlos Ruiz Zafón.
Cornwell says The Serpent Papers was inspired by her own research into 13th century Majorcan mystic Ramon Llull. "Llull interested me for two reasons. The first was his genius. The second, his posthumous dance with history. Following his death in 1315 (or was it 1316? No one is certain) some began to suspect that the mystic had a second life as an alchemist. An alchemical tradition of 'false' or 'pseudo' Llulls emerged ... For the first time I saw Anna Verco looking for the missing pages of an alchemical palimpsest."
Cornwell's main character is Anna Verco, a young 27-year-old English palaeographer, with almost psychic insights, possibly induced by epilepsy. She is hired by Picatrix, a mysterious wealthy arts foundation, to find the lost manuscript of the alchemist "Rex Illuminatus", whose 13th century writings may overlay hidden secrets, notably "a whispered secret from the time of Christ".
Anna combines scholarly expertise with a tendency to be "impulsive and rash", thus making her the ideal "book hunter", initially in the monasteries and abbeys of Mallorca. Anna's researches lead her back to previous investigators, particularly in the 19th century, but more dangerously to murders that took place in Barcelona in 2003 when three women were found, their skin carved with alchemical signs and their tongues cut out.
Retired Barcelona detective Emanuel Fabregat, still smarting at the unsolved murders, resumes his quest for the killer with Anna, who finds her quest for the "Serpent Papers" is bringing her to the attention of the serial killer. The tension dramatically increases as Anna is in danger of becoming the next victim.
Cornwell's narrative structure is not straightforward; indeed, it is often as labyrinthian as Anna's historical quest. The first sections of the novel require patience as Anna's fragmented narrative moves between the present and the past, interlocking her own archival detective work with the letters and diaries of previous historians searching for "Rex Illuminatus". Nonetheless, this is an ambitious, intelligent debut novel, climbing well beyond the Dan Brown levels, although not yet reaching the le Carré literary heights.
