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The death of a man working amid flames of a glass foundry off the Venetian islands of Murano provides the hellish scene for the opening of this weighty novel. As if one death is not enough, the remains of the man's wife are discovered in the oven the following day. Thus are we thrust into to politics of the family Arcangelo and of the city of Venice itself. David Hewson is one of a growing number of British and American authors (including Magdalen Nabb, Michael Dibdin, Timothy Williams, and the incomparable Donna Leon) writing crime/detective fiction set in Italy. Here his Rome-based characters from previous novels, Nic Costa and Gianni Peroni, have been dispatched to Venice as a punishment for some previous act of disobedience. However, they are joined by their equally disgraced superior Leo Falcone, sent from his exile in Verona to head up their investigation which is expected to provide a politically acceptable report of the deaths of Uriel and Bella Arcangelo. They are aided, somewhat fortuitously, in this enterprise by Nic and Gianni's respective partners, former FBI agent Emily Deacon and the forensic scientist Teresa Lupo. At the heart of this complex whodunit is an Englishman Hugo Massiter. It is his deal to buy the failing Arcangelo foundry and home that is jeopardised by the two deaths. The remaining Arcangeli, two brothers and a sister, are the somewhat reluctant and reticent beneficiaries of this deal should it go through. To complicate matters further (do they need it?) Massiter has a shady past including possible fraud. Needless to say, Costa and co. are not prepared to accept the obvious explanations, and continue to dig to expose the truth not just of the two murders but also of the past, even at the risk of their futures, their relationships, and even their lives. This isn't a bad yarn, it's just not terribly exciting. Donna Leon has already covered Murano and given more of a feel for the place, and for Venetian politics -- and for Venetian food which only figures fleetingly here -- in her Brunetti novels. So. . . if you want a detective thriller with a bit of a twist this is OK; if you want a bit more local colour and atmosphere you might want to look elsewhere.
Reviewed by Neil Wynn, August 2006
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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