Iain Pears is an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 art historian, novelist and journalist. He was educated at Warwick School

Warwick School

Warwick School is an independent school with boarding facilities for boys in Warwick, England, and is reputed to be the third-oldest surviving school in the country after King's School, Canterbury and St Peter's School, York; and the oldest boy's school in England...

, Warwick, Wadham College and Wolfson College

Wolfson College, Oxford

Wolfson College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Located in north Oxford along the River Cherwell, Wolfson is an all-graduate college with over sixty governing body fellows, in addition to both research and junior research fellows. It caters to a wide range of...

, Oxford. Before writing, he worked as a reporter for the BBC, Channel 4 (UK) and ZDF (Germany) and correspondent for Reuters

Reuters

Reuters is a news agency headquartered in New York City. Until 2008 the Reuters news agency formed part of a British independent company, Reuters Group plc, which was also a provider of financial market data...

 from 1982 to 1990 in Italy, France, UK and US. In 1987 he became a Getty Fellow in the Arts and Humanities at Yale University

Yale University

Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...

. His well-known novel series features Jonathan Argyll, art historian, though international fame first arrived with his best selling book An Instance of the Fingerpost

An Instance of the Fingerpost

An Instance of the Fingerpost is a 1997 historical mystery novel by Iain Pears.-Synopsis:A murder in 17th-century Oxford is related from the contradictory points of view of four of the characters, all of them unreliable narrators...

(1998), which was translated into several languages. Pears currently lives with his wife and children in Oxford.

Jonathan Argyll series (art history mysteries)

This series presents detective art historian Jonathan Argyll who works with two members of the (fictitious) Italian Art Squad: Flavia di Stefano (deputy) and General Bottando (head of the squad).
Pears published seven books in the series:

• The Raphael Affair (1991)
• The Titian Committee (1992)
• The Bernini Bust (1993)
• The Last Judgement (1994)
• Giotto's Hand (1995)
• Death and Restoration (1996)
• The Immaculate Deception (2000)

Novels

• An Instance of the Fingerpost
  An Instance of the Fingerpost
  An Instance of the Fingerpost is a 1997 historical mystery novel by Iain Pears.-Synopsis:A murder in 17th-century Oxford is related from the contradictory points of view of four of the characters, all of them unreliable narrators...
  
  (1998)
• The Dream of Scipio (2002)
• The Portrait (2005)
• Stone's Fall
  Stone's Fall
  -Synopsis:An aging BBC reporter approaching retirement in 1953, Matthew Braddock is on a farewell tour, visiting the old Paris bureau. Chancing upon a familiar name in the obituary notices, he decides to attend the funeral of an acquaintance he has not seen for many years. After the service, he is...
  
  (2009)