What to Read This Spring

 

What to Read This Spring

A Death in Venice by Verity Bright-- 1920s Cozy Mystery

Thank you Bookoture, Verity Bright and NetGalley for an e-ARC. All opinions in this review are my own and not affected by the giveaway.

Photos by my parents in 2016 and 2019. Do not take without permission, thank you!

Lady Eleanor Swift and her friends/staff and pets are on vacation in Venice for a little fun during Carnival season. Ellie is enjoying seeing Venice by gondola with Clifford on hand to keep her from falling in the canals. The ladies are whooping it up enjoying ALL the sites (especially the laundry lines and male statues) but for Ellie, her clumsiness and her eagerness to see everything is about to embroil her in affairs that lead to murder and perhaps a reigniting of a blood feud. All she wants to do is help two young lovers marry and to see the sights of Venice but she can't help but chase down thieves and murderers, with the help of Clifford of course. 

I have mixed feelings about this one. Most of it, especially the first 100 pages, reads like a tourist guidebook to Venice. Finally, Ellie gets to (briefly) explore places tourists don't usually go (but apparently can if they book a private tour, something my family has never done). I really liked those parts and the scenes in the Jewish quarter with the introduction of a Jewish character. I was a little disappointed Venice of the 1920s is pretty much the same as Venice of the 1990s and not much different from today. Now you get around by water taxi and gondolas are for tourists. You can even find gondolas in my city in America. The politics of 1920s Venice centers around the age old debate of progress vs. tradition. I think Venice has done a pretty good job of balancing both but it would be nice to bring back wooden gondolas and have less motor boats. 

2019 Tradition AND Progress

The descriptions will make you feel like you're there. If you haven't been, that's great to have but it slows down the pace of the novel and since I've been there once in person and many times through family photos (dating back to before I was even born), I skimmed for descriptions of how Venice may have appeared different in the 1920s. I did like the Carnival setting and wanted more of it. The silly Englishman's subplot was superfluous. 

The mystery is either about politics or about family. I did not like the stereotype of the fiery, passionate, stubborn Italians feuding. I thought vengeance and blood feuds were more of a southern thing but I looked it up and there was a famous feud that inspired the events of this novel. I forgot to ask my parents about it. I must ask them to ask their friends in the Venezia region to tell me about it. The romance got lost in the family drama. The identity of the murderer was a surprise. I had forgotten that person and dismissed them. I was left confused by the thief's story. Is he the dark side of Clifford? The body count is too high for a fluffy cozy mystery like this series. One nitpick - the Italian word for pasta is macaroni. Pasta literally means paste and there are many different shapes and sauces and dishes. Each is regional and you'll only find the freshest ingredients used. Gelato flavors are seasonal as well and pistachio is a traditional flavor but not a spring flavor but I'm not sure about pistachio salted caramel! I'd be surprised if that flavor existed in the 1920s. Another question to ask my parents' friends! 

Speaking of Clifford, he is getting younger by the book! He's so agile and in fighting condition for an older man. I loved seeing him light up in the clock tower though and it was sweet of Ellie to arrange that tour for him because she knew he would love it. He's always looking out for her and doing things she wants to do as well as keeping her safe. I love how in tune they are with each other's thoughts. 

Clock Tower 2019

Clock Face 2019

Ellie is a sweetheart of a woman but shockingly naïve at times even after all those dead bodies. She's growing though and learning, listening to Clifford and trusting her instincts. I worry about her relationship with Hugh though. It's just not going to work out if she goes gallivanting off to places hobnobbing with people who don't respect marriage vows and who enjoy a good party. Ellie isn't like that and Hugh knows it but it sounds like he's jealous and worried anyway. I hope he can take time off so they can go on vacation together (with Clifford and the ladies to chaperone).  The ladies are a riot as always. The laundry hanging between the houses is pretty and the subject of MANY photos. It's funny to think of how shocking the site of underwear was given what underwear looked like! Shy Polly is coming out of her shell a bit and growing up. Lizzie is learning to relax and enjoy the more informal atmosphere of the Henley House family. While Gladstone doesn't have much to do, Tomkins gets his due, as Venetians love cats. There was a little too much Tomkins worship and not enough Gladstone for me.

The first victim is Signor Benetto Vedelini, an important Venetian businessman and on the city council. He was always demanding progress and ignoring how that progress would harm the artisans and gondoliers and even the locals who don't make money in the tourism industry. He sounds like he was arrogant. He argued with his gondolier, a stranger! The Vedelinis have been importance in Venice forever so I guess he came by his ego honestly. The Vedelinis were once engaged in a centuries-long feud with the Marcellos. The gondolier, Gaspo Secco, was related to the Marcellos. Gaspo is known for his hot temper but arguing with a customer is a new one. Gaspo is arrested without evidence but Angelo assumes the feud may be starting again! If Gaso murdered Benetto, the Vedelinis will seek vengeance and perhaps kill one of the Marcellos in return. Indeed, when a second body turns up in the canal, everyone assumes the crime was like for like. But what if it wasn't? Who else could have killed these men and why?

Canal minus dead bodies in 2019

Ellie has a personal gondolier, Angelo. He speaks excellent English and is happy to show Ellie around but he isn't necessarily bound by loyalty to HER the way her staff is. He doesn't know her. He works for a living and she's just another wealthy client. He seems nice and trustworthy though. Another new friend I don't quite trust is Vincenzo Vedellini. He's a member of the Venetian Council like the man who was murdered but he doesn't seem to mind that a family member was killed. He barely knew the guy he says. He seems more interested in charming Ellie, possibly with seduction in mind. Ellie trusts him though and feels she can share what she's learned her investigation. I'm not sure her instincts are sound on this one. I don't trust him and I'm certain at the very least, Hugh would like to knock the lights out of this guy and at best, check up on Vincenzo to make sure he's a good person. 

If the murder was premeditated and/or if the second murder was part of the blood feud, who ordered the killing? Ellie is invited to a party at the home of Contessa Contarinia. Eugenia is friendly enough but a little cold. She, and everyone else in the family, all seem cowed by the family patriarch, Nonno. Nonno is stubborn, opinionated and always thinks he's right. Yup. That sounds right for the Nonno I know but this Nonno does not have the generous and loving qualities of my family's Nonno! This one is more like my Italian-born great-uncle who was a boy when this story takes place and grew into a very cranky, mean old man. This Nonno doesn't hesitate to tell everyone what to do, even other people's servants. He doesn't like to be contradicted and Ellie, as a modern woman, nearly gives him apoplexy when she speaks up. She was only being herself and since she is not a member of the family, she can say what she wants to Nonno. Did Nonno order a vengeance killing and reignite the blood feud? I would expect he would go do the deed himself if he could. He believes business is the lifeblood of Venice but doesn't say if he's for progress or tradition? I think he must be for progress because it's made him rich. 

The Contessa's daughter, Regina, is very cold and unromantic for a young woman. She wants to marry for money and not love, unlike her cousin Caterina. Caterina is the romantic in the family, a star-crossed lover. Caterina is Nonno's ward and she knows he won't approve of her marrying someone from another family- the family they've been at odds with forever! Her secret fiancé, Leonardo seems weak and silly. He's young and timid, afraid to approach Nonno and ask permission to marry Caterina. 

Signor Friedman, art restorer, is enthusiastic about showing off his museum but not so enthusiastic about the glass figurines Ellie brings him to look at. She doesn't want to sell them, she wants to know if they are valuable enough to want to steal. She has to trust Sgr. F to tell the truth but he seems a little squirrely. 

Murano glass blower 2019

Doctor Pinsky, a Jewish man, is a mysterious figure. At first he's friendly and engages in sharing his history with Ellie but then he seems a little shady in other scenes. He's seen lurking and consorting with a thief who steals Ellie's bag and ransacks her room. Is Doctor Pinsky in league with the thief of his own free will or is he being paid to assist? Maybe it's a misunderstanding and Ellie didn't see what she thought she saw? Alas, a third body turns up and Doctor Pinsky is seen nearby. Wrong place, wrong time or a cold-blooded murderer?

Casper Theodore Allegro Fitzmorton Kipling aka Kip is a young, nitwitted, Englishman attempting to help his father live out his dream of recreating Lord Byron's trip to Venice. That was 100 years earlier and Byron had a reputation. This is modern times we live in and Kip is just plain silly and stupid to do the things he's doing. He seems harmless enough. Ellie mothers him and helps him evade arrest, as if she doesn't have enough on her plate. 

Three people are dead, two in the canal and one elsewhere. A mysterious thief keeps dogging Ellie and steals her bag. A talented but mute artist has given her a second drawing she didn't pay for and has disappeared. Could he be the key witness to the first murder? Is he trying to tell her something with his picture? Is he dead or disappeared? Now there's another mystery to solve!

This story didn't appeal to me as much as some of the others. Even though Clifford, the ladies and pets are all here, I miss the village. I much prefer the stories set in and around Henley Hall.