story, Fruttero and Lucentini, offer a perfect blend of the comedy of manners and the macabre..." ---Tim Parks, author of Hotel Milano

Selected by Tracy Chevalier for the WSJ as first among the five best books on Venice: "...distinctive, eccentric, seductive."

A passionate affair set in Venice between a Roman princess searching for undervalued paintings and a mysterious tour guide. Art shenanigans become unavoidable, but the guide's true identity is the mystery that drives the story.

Their passion will last three days, long enough to be exposed to unscrupulous art dealers and scammers passing off worthless paintings as part of a famous collection. She goes to cosmopolitan parties given by Venetian social and art glitterati. Mr Silvera, a guide whose erudition and distinction sharply contrast with his beat-up suitcase and stain-spotted raincoat, drags his shabby tourists from monument to monument.

Around them are the canals and lagoons of Venice, a city which becomes a character in the novel in its own right.

"A labyrinth full of shapeshifting and ambiguity, sometimes sinister, often hilarious, for which Venice offers the perfect setting." ---Jonathan Keates, author of La Serenissima: The Story of Venice

" An undiscovered gem, witty, moving and enthrallingly atmospheric." Philip Gwynne Jones, author of The Venetian Legacy.

"Sparkling and stylish, this is both a mystery and a mischievous comedy of manners which brings the city and its lagoon to life."---CrimeTime