Venetian Holiday
A Novel
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- $2.99
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- $2.99
Publisher Description
On the eve of Il Porto gallery’s opening, Kate Fujimori leaps across Venice’s rooftops---an easy routine for an expert cat burglar like herself. But her well-planned heist of the gallery’s featured painting, a famed Mona Lisa forgery, goes uncharacteristically wrong. It’s not long before Kate realizes her headaches are only just beginning.
A rival gang of thieves after the same target always seems to be one step ahead of Kate. To make matters worse, her accomplice, Freddy Doloreux, an impeccably prepared associate, has succumbed to his extravagant, high-priced lifestyle. Faced with some compromising debts, he accepts a contract on the side---with an assassin commissioned to kill Kate.
As usual, the headstrong Kate ignores her astrologer’s warning: to beware a dark stranger who lives on water. Instead, she falls into a heavy flirtation with a handsome (and dark-haired) Venetian who has a passion for American films---and attractive women. The mysterious Italian turns out to be not only Venice’s police detective but a man on the rebound---doubly dangerous for Kate. As the gallery opening quickly approaches, Kate becomes a wanted woman---by the police, the assassin, the rival thieves, and the charming detective.
Venetian Holiday is an enchanting caper of mystery and misadventure; love, locals, and the delightfully unsavory characters that one can find only in Venice.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Journalist Campbell's fiction debut, a fast-moving crime caper, is too full of implausible characters and situations to satisfy most readers. Kate Fujimori, a high-tech thief, has adopted the mantle of her Pink Panther like husband, Paul, who stole objets d'art under the identity of "the Professor." When Paul retires (and the couple separates), Kate looks for ever more challenging assignments, a search that leads her to Venice and a valuable fake Mona Lisa. When her elaborate efforts are stymied by the surprise appearance of rival thieves, she must scramble to regroup and fulfill her commission. By coincidence, she manages to hook up with an attractive stranger, who turns out to be a local detective. With a plot featuring assassins, a zombie priest and a climax deliberately lifted from Hitchcock's North by Northwest, Campbell goes deliberately over-the-top. Those who don't require their fictional crooks and cops to act realistically may find this a light diversion.
