The Thief of Venice: A Homer Kelly Mystey [Hardcover]

Jane Langton (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 1 and up

In Homer Kelly's new adventure the fabled squares and palaces of Venice contain holy relics, hidden gold, and an occasional defunct human being.

Never has Jane Langton been more enchanting or thrilling than in her fourteenth Homer Kelly mystery, The Thief of Venice. In a setting splendidly evoked by her line drawings, characters from the wryly innocent to the brilliantly sinister play out a serpentine story of divine mystery, immortal art, and mortal remains.

The seductive city of Venice has lured Homer Kelly to a rare books conference and his wife, Mary, into the streets of the city, armed with a camera. While Homer basks in the Biblioteca Marciana, Mary's snapshots reveal more than she intended. In one of her simple tourist images of San Marco, gondolas on jade-green canals, the Rialto Bridge, the labyrinthine streets, the house of Tintoretto, and the Ghetto Vecchio, appears the figure of a missing woman. Thus begins a case that leads to a bona fide miracle and the discovery of a treasure painfully recalling the fate of Venetian Jews in World War II, culminating in an elaborate chase across a maze of ancient bridges as the acqua alta water rises up out of the canals, threatening all Venetians!

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

The Homer Kelly series is usually set in Massachusetts (Homer and wife Mary teach at Harvard), but occasionally Langton takes the amiable pair--ever-enthusiastic Homer and more subued but equally perceptive Mary--on the road. This fourteenth entry finds them returning to Italy, scene of The Dante Game (1991). The venue here is Venice rather than Florence, but the travelogue tone is equally infectious, as Homer settles in to study Renaissance manuscripts, and Mary sets out, guidebook in hand, to see the city. She does exactly that (tourists would do well to follow her footsteps), but along the way, she becomes involved with a handsome doctor, who turns out to be a particularly vile murderer. The tangled plot jumps between the personal and spiritual problems of the Kellys' host, a librarian, and the discovery of art treasures hidden by Venetian Jews during World War II. As the water rises during Venice's dreaded acqua alta season, Mary and Homer slosh their way across the city, tracking a killer and facing a marital crisis. An ideal diversion for those who like to combine travel research with a little murder. Bill Ott

From Kirkus Reviews

The Thief Of Venice ($21.95; Jun. 21; 256 pp.; 0-670-88210-0): Homer Kelly's 14th case sends the Concord, Mass., professor and his wife and colleague Mary (The Face on the Wall, 1998, etc.) to a rare book conference in Venice, where Mary's tourist photos will reveal a missing woman and lead to a stolen treasure, a modern miracle, and sudden, violent deathall illustrated with an exceptional profusion of Langton's line drawings. (Author tour) -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 1 and up
  
• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Viking Adult; 1ST edition (June 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0670882100
• ISBN-13: 978-0670882106
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #259,623 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I've written an awful lot of books. There are eleven for middle-aged children, mostly fantasies. The ones that have hung around the longest are "The Diamond in the Window" and "The Fledgling." The seventh in the series called "The Hall Family Chronicles" came out last spring, "The Mysterious Circus," and I've just finished writing an eighth, "The Dragon Tree."

All eighteen mysteries for adults have the same protagonists, Homer and Mary Kelly. Mary is the sensible one, but I confess I like Homer's rhapsodic flights of fancy. Most of their adventures happen in Massachusetts, but I've also sent them to farflung places I wanted to visit myself, like Florence, Oxford and Venice. Most of the novels are illustrated with my own drawings, but "The Escher Twist" has ten prints by the mysterious Dutch artist M. C. Escher, and the two historical mysteries are illustrated with nineteenth-century photographs.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fun to read mystery, April 11, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Thief of Venice: A Homer Kelly Mystey (Hardcover)

In Venice, Samuele Bell hosts an international rare book convention that experts from around the world attend. Among the attendees is American Professor Homer Kelly, whose spouse Mary, also a professor, accompanies him to Italy. While Homer spends all of his time relishing the city''s vast Renaissance collection, Mary tours Venice with her camera.

As the Kellys enjoy their stay in the city, Dr. Richard Henchard finds an apartment for his mistress. However, the apartment contains a strange closet where he uncovers a hidden Jewish treasure, probably buried there during World War II. To keep the treasure that he now claims as his, Richard murders two people. He also meets Mary and they begin an affair even as the police seek an unknown killer.

The fourteenth Kelly mystery provides a fresh look at the main characters by shifting them to Italy and having their personal lives intercede on the who-done-it. Homer and Mary remain a warm, wonderful couple, who now must deal with her affair with the killer. However, it is Jane Langton''s descriptions of present day and World War II Venice that makes this must reading of series fans and amateur sleuth tales.

Harriet Klausner

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not the best to Start with, but...., February 5, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Thief of Venice: A Homer Kelly Mystey (Hardcover)

This might not be the best Homer Kelly mystery to start with, but it is definitely worth reading if you like the series. Most of the Homer Kelly books take place in Boston; occassionally on another site, such as Florence (the Dante Game) and Oxford (the Longest Day). Unlike the previous reviewer, I did not find ANY of the Boston books boring. This one, that takes place in Venice, is a great introduction to the city. And Mary Kelly is more of the main character than Homer. But for those of us who have READ EVERY ONE, it was interesting to see Mary in a foreign city and the danger she finds herself in. Perhaps not the best, but a very good look at Venice and to an extent, Medieval art.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Quite A Bit Different, January 25, 2002

By 

Louis M. Perdue (Amsterdam, the Netherlands) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Thief of Venice: A Homer Kelly Mystery (Homer Kelly Mysteries) (Paperback)

Having read almost all of the Homer Kelly mysteries by Jane Langton, I was surprised by this one. Not only does it take place outside the normal venue, but as well, Homer plays a very small part in the book, with Mary doing most of the detecting. As usual, Ms. Langton does an excellent job of wrapping up several seemingly disparate plotlines into one tidy ending. The descriptions of Venice are interesting, although at times are rather more like a list of attractions rather than true descriptions. All in all, not the best of the series; but even when not the best, a Jane Langton book is better than most in the genre.