Venetian Blood – Murder in a Sensuous City

LOCAL AUTHOR

At forty, Anna Lucia Lottol has found herself at a crossroads, with divorce on the horizon; she has decided to take a vacation in Venice, Italy. During her vacation, a well-connected aristocrat is murdered. Anna finds herself as the main suspect in his death, and not just because she had a previous fling with the victim, Count Sergio Corrin, but also because he was blackmailing her with compromising photos. All of this will not go down well with her bosses at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, where Anna is supposed to track down money launderers, not have affairs with them.

In order to stay out of prison, she tries to find out who killed the Count. She is helped by her friend Margo, who is also in Venice staying with a close set of friends and acquaintances. Since they all knew the Count as well and had close dealings with him, Anna has plenty of suspects to consider. But the road to the truth will be more dangerous than she can imagine, and she might end up finding out more about the Count and her own past than she anticipated.

Venetian Blood was a beautifully, if not deliciously, described story. The author has a real talent for transporting the reader right into the heart of Venice and its mesmerizing canals, palazzos, and restaurants, exposing all our senses to a magical treat. In fact, the scenery often nearly jumps off the page, giving the reader the sense of being right in the middle of the action. I thought the attention to detail throughout this book was superb. I loved the use of language, which helped give it a real Italian flair and a definite sense of place. The story was also absorbing, and I felt drawn into Anna’s life almost immediately. I appreciated the way the author dealt with her background as well, weaving it in throughout the story. Most of the other main characters had interesting back stories, which added to the depth of the story. Overall, there were more than enough twists and turns to heighten the suspense and keep me turning pages. The ending was one I hadn’t anticipated until I was near the end. I was a little bit puzzled that the story was set in 1992, and I did wonder a few times why, considering the current political focus on money laundering at the moment. Although it wasn’t a major issue, I thought it might have benefited a contemporary setting. Despite this, it was a delight to read. Venetian Blood is definitely a book I would recommend.