The Fish Market at the end of the day

Cash Point doorway

Only in Venice a Cash Point can have a door like this.

Venetian Blood – Murder in a Sensuous City

 

I have been so lucky to receive this book by the author and I’m happy to write here about it.  I love to read story settled in Venice especially if there are mystery and love.

This story is set in Venice in 1992 and I have been surprise by the many accurate references (of the Italian politics but also places that are no more available like the Gazzettino or the Des Bains Hotel), I guess the author has started to write the story that year.

Actually the author knows Venice very well, each place: restaurants, banks, churches, are correctly described and also any little calle and connections between one place and another is correct. If you know Venice, it’s easily to picture yourself right there with the characters.

But what I liked more of this book is that it’s a mystery thriller, something happens every page, there are many “colpi di scena” and you look forward to see how it will end. I have read the second half of the book all in once!

Instead I have mixed feelings for the characters, the Italian men seemed to me the classic stereotypes. Real Italians, specially if rich and educated, are more restrained and don’t play the latin lover role all the time. (… or maybe they do with American tourists?)

Anyway I enjoyed Anna, her struggle and her good nature, with her strong logical mind she reminded me the protagonist of “The Eight” by Katherine Neville (a book I loved).

Definitely if you miss Venice and like mystery thriller, you will enjoy this book.

Here some more details about it:

Book Description:
Struggling to forget a crumbling marriage, forty-year-old Anna Lucia Lottol comes to Venice to visit an old friend—but instead of finding solace, she is dragged into a police station and accused of murdering a money laundering count with whom she had a brief affair. In the days that follow, Anna, a US Treasury officer with brains and athleticism, fights to clear her name in a seductive city of watery illusions. But as she tries to pry clues from a cast of uncooperative characters who implausibly deny what she sees and hears, she begins to question whether they are hiding something…or she is losing touch with reality. Racing to unlock secrets, she succeeds instead in unleashing a powerful foe bent on destroying her. Will she save herself and vanquish her enemies, including her darkest fears?

A captivating tapestry of murder, betrayal, and family, Venetian Blood is the story of one woman’s brave quest for the truth—before it’s too late.

Disclosure: I received a complimentary ebook copy of this book in exchange for my review.

Morning in Venice

Morning, before the tourists wake up, when kids go to school and all the shops, restaurants and hotels are supplied.

The vaporetto captain

When I was young the captains of vaporetti or motoscafi were always manly men, now it’s quite common to see a blond lady at the helm.

And only now I realize how wrong it was.

Hands

Definitely the most impressive artwork of this Biennale 2017

Finally Spring

And Venice again..

Snow snow snow!!!

A Venetian “Pied Piper of Hamelin”

Candles and boots

The 21st of November is often in Venice a day of Candles and boots, as most of the time the “Madonna Della Salute” day is rainy and cold, sometimes with “acqua alta” too.

madonna della salute