VENICE-O-METER 9
Crime novel set in both current-day and 16th century Venice
Why, yes, we are aware that the Medici were a Florentine family. But there is a Venice connection — what scholar Stefano Dall’Aglio has called “the coldest case in history,” namely the 1548 murder of Lorenzino de Medici, who had actually relocated to Venice after assassinating his cousin Alessandro.
David Hewson introduces us to an insufferable British historian-and-TV-personality, Marmaduke Godolphin. who’s in (present-day) Venice in the hope of finally solving the mystery of Lorenzino’s death. However, Godolphin is soon found dead in a canal. Arnold Clover, a retired archivist who had been hired by Godolphin to help with his research, investigates the murder of the historian investigating a murder.
It’s an intriguing premise and the novel really worked for me. It kept me guessing and allowed me to learn all kinds of facts about Venice and its history.
Hewson’s other books set in Venice include The Borgia Portrait, which also features Arnold Clover, and a World War 2 thriller, The Garden of Angels.
Reading Venice 