Death in the Floating City
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- £2.99
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- £2.99
Publisher Description
The past does not give its secrets up easily . . .
Years ago, Emily's childhood nemesis, Emma Callum, scandalised polite society when she eloped with an Italian count. Now her father-in-law lies murdered, and her husband has fled, making him the prime suspect. Alone in her empty palazzo, Emma realises there's no one she can turn to for help but Emily, who leaves at once for Venice, with her husband.
When a fifteenth-century ring is found in the hand of the slain man, the mysteries of past and present become entwined, and in order to find the murderer, Emily must first unravel the secret of a centuries-old love affair.
Her investigations take her through the canals of the ancient city, from opulent palazzi to licentious bordellos, but the past does not give up its secrets easily . . . especially when these revelations might threaten the interests of some very powerful people, and Emily finds herself stalked by an ominous masked figure, determined to keep her from solving the case at any cost.
Praise for Tasha Alexander
'Fun to read, fast paced, and delightfully suspenseful . . . the perfect entertainment for Elizabeth Peters fans' Booklist
'The story glides along as smoothly as a gondola . . . Lady Emily travels well' Kirkus Reviews
'An exceptionally good bet for readers who appreciate historical mysteries and the combination of past and present voices' Library Journal
'Enchanting... Alexander keeps readers guessing to the very end' Publishers Weekly
'With an appealing flair for historical detail and compassion for her characters, the author adds another well-crafted title to her popular series' Historical Novel Society
Tasha Alexander does a fantastic job here with the crumbling palazzos, dusty old books, and gondolas gliding along the canals... I love that I was able to fall into the novel and get lost in the mystery, the romance, and the city of Venice . . . Obviously, I cannot wait for Emily's next adventure' Bookreporter
'Another completely enjoyable entry in what has become one of my favorite historical mystery series' Aunt Agatha's
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Alexander's featherweight seventh Victorian historical (after 2011's A Crimson Mourning) takes Lady Emily and her British intelligence husband, Colin Hargreaves, to Venice, Italy. Emily's not-so-BFF, Emma Callum, wants the crack-detective couple to solve the stabbing murder of her father-in-law, since the Venetian police have failed to do so. Emma also hopes they can locate her missing husband, who she is sure is innocent of his father's murder. While Emily is loath to take the case because Emma has rubbed her the wrong way since childhood, she accepts her duty with as much grace as she can muster. The claws-on-a-chalkboard persiflage commences the moment the two women meet face to face and provides some of the book's best dialogue. Running concurrently with the suspense story are heartrending chapters recounting a centuries-old ill-fated love affair that ties to the murder mystery. Period purists may have a problem with Lady Emily's anachronistic vocabulary.