Customer Reviews

Frail Barrier (Urbino Macintyre Venetian Mysteries, No. 8)

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Sklepowich knows his readers well. They read his mysteries and others like it, in order to relive the mysterious enchantment they have experienced in Venice. This slow paced mystery seems intent on spending many pages on evoking this mysterious enchantment and to this end spends a good bit of time describing Venice - its buildings, paintings, the cemetery island, carnavale and the art of paper making. Unfortunately this slows down the action to a crawl. A mystery does not develop until the book is a third over. The mystery of the murder of an elderly lady who works as a washroom attendant at amateur sleuth Urbino Macintyre's and his side kick the Contessa Capo-Zendrini's hangout, the elegant cafe Florian's, is neatly resolved and life goes on until the next in this mystery series. Consequently it is high on atmosphere and low on plot, but enjoyable nonetheless by those of us who have succumbed to the mysterious enchantment of Venice.

Once again we have a thoroughly satisfying mystery from Edward Sklepowich. For me, the mystery is almost incidental to the wonderful descriptions of one of my favorite cities. A tourist would do well to use these mysteries as guidebooks to Venice.And of course, one always hopes to run into Urbino or the Contessa Barbara eating a gelato on St. Mark's Square.
This latest book is of the high quality of its forerunners and fans will welcome it.