Painted Veil (Baroque Mystery) [Large Print] [Paperback]

Beverle Graves Myers (Author)

Book Description

Series: Baroque Mystery | Publication Date: March 15, 2007

Venice, 1734. Castrato soprano Tito Amato has let fame go to his head. Neglecting his vocal practice for dubious pleasures, Tito finds himself demoted to secondary roles and overshadowed by a visiting star. When the murder of scene painter Luca Cavalieri threatens to close the opera house, Tito jumps at the chance to regain his chance to reclaim his status by finding the killer.

The hunt for the person who wears the mask of Palantinus carries Tito and Augustus "Gussie" Rumbolt, an Englishman making his Grand Tour, into the treacherous depths of the city dedicated to masquerade and pleasure and reveals many facets of its multiple religious faiths.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Set in 1730s Venice, Myers's second baroque mystery skillfully guides the reader past the dangers of fame to the nature of music and love, fulfilling the promise of her well-received debut, Interrupted Aria (2004). At the Teatro San Marco, soprano castrato Tito Amato is struggling with his demotion to lesser roles when the strangled body of Luca Cavalieri, a talented if unscrupulous set designer and painter, turns up in a canal. Suspicion points to his lover, Liya Del'Vecchio, a "Jewess" whom Tito falls for on sight. When the opera company director asks Tito to investigate Cavalieri's murder, he's only too glad to comply. Accompanied by Augustus "Gussie" Rumbolt, a younger son of English nobility on the grand tour, he explores the first European ghetto. All foreigners are suspect and restricted in the fading sun of Venetian trading pre-eminence, but only Jews are locked up at night in the old ironworks. When a rabble-rousing, pseudonymous pamphlet accuses Liya's cousin of the murder and poisoning wells, Tito gets mixed up in necromancy and secret societies as well. Myers provides an insightful and tender look at how those who are different—castrati, women, Jews—were treated at the time, as well as a wonderful view of elegant, decadent, nothing-is-as-it-seems-from-behind-the-masque Venice.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

Myers' second Baroque mystery returns readers to eighteenth-century Venice, where castrato soprano Tito Amato is again preparing for an opera role at Teatro San Marco--but not the lead. After a bout of diva excess, Tito is replaced as the star by famous visiting castrato, Francesco Florio, an even bigger diva. Humbly taking responsibility for his own actions, Tito begins working hard to get his voice back in top shape while gracefully dodging the taunts of Florio. Meanwhile, scene-painter Luca Cavalieri goes missing, and theater-director Torani asks Tito to investigate. Jumping at the chance to restore the maestro's faith in him, Tito sets off with his new English friend, Gussie Rumbolt, to find Luca. Along the way, Myers exposes readers to a dark side of Venice: prejudice. Often a victim of ridicule himself, Tito's heart aches for the Jews, who are forced to live in a locked ghetto and treated with contempt. Like a grand opera, Myers' story transports readers to a fascinating world of glamour, deceit, intrigue, and passion. Bravo! Jenny McLarin
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 451 pages
• Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press; Large type / large print edition (March 15, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 159058158X
• ISBN-13: 978-1590581582
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,633,985 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Beverle Graves Myers fell in love with opera at a marionette production of Rigoletto when she was nine years old. Around the same time, she discovered Agatha Christie and hasn't stopped reading mysteries since. Now, Bev enjoys mixing murder, music and intrigue in writing her Baroque Mystery series from Poisoned Pen Press. Set in dazzling, decadent 18th-century Venice, her novels feature Tito Amato, an opera singer with a stellar talent for sleuthing. Bev also writes short fiction set in a variety of times and places. Her stories have appeared in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, Futures, Woman's World, and numerous anthologies. Bev's work has been nominated for the Macavity, Derringer, Kentucky Literary Awards. A retired psychiatrist, Bev now writes full time from her home in Louisville, Kentucky. Visit her website at www.beverlegravesmyers.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Musical mystery, July 28, 2005

By 

Linda Pagliuco "katknit" (CT, United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Painted Veil (Baroque Mystery) (Hardcover)

Painted Veil is a mild little mystery, fun to read because of its setting, its period detail, and its glimpse into the Baroque world of opera. Hystrionic divas, hysterical directors, a castrato who rested too long on his laurels, down-at-the-heels aristocrats - the book is peppered with colorful characters. Myers' treatment of the Jewish people in Venice is also quite authentic. The pace of the action is less than breathless, but Painted Veil does make a good summer read.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lose yourself in Venice, July 4, 2005

By 

Megan Mckinney (Stowe, VT) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Painted Veil (Baroque Mystery) (Hardcover)

The second installment of the Baroque Mystery series, "Painted Veil", brings 18th-century Venice to life in an engrossing tale of inflated egos, secret societies and religious predjudice.

Tito Amato is back, smarting over losing his star billing at the opera house to a famous castrato from out of town. When the scene painter disappears, Tito jumps at the opportunity to get back into his frazzled director's good graces by finding the man. The painter's body soon surfaces in the lagoon during a citywide celebration. Some want to blame the Jews for the murder, as well as a host of other ills that bedevil the crumbling island city. As the long, hot summer drags on, tension mounts between Venice's Hebrew and Christian inhabitants mount. Nevertheless, Tito comes to suspect that Dr. Palantinus, the masked guru of a mystical society is the real villain.

"Painted Veil" kept me enchanted with the narration of the charming, witty Tito. He's a singer as dedicated to finding justice as he is to regaining the mastery over his voice. All the characters were fully dramatized, and the setting was described in lush, but not overpowering detail. The plot presented a few interesting twists, but I did figure out the identity of the killer rather early. Overall, a very enjoyable read--one of those books you can get completely lost in.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A very good Baroque mystery., April 6, 2005

By 

L. J. Roberts (Oakland, CA, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Painted Veil (Baroque Mystery) (Hardcover)

Myers excels at providing us a view of Baroque Venice. Amato is a wonderful, realistic character, surrounded by the cast of the opera and his family. But we are also shown the dark and unpleasant side of this period and city and it's people. The story seems to start with a fairly simple mystery and lots of suspects, but soon turns into something much darker and more complex. This is a wonderful mix of music, mystery and history.