Venice, 1734. Castrato soprano Tito Amato, star of Venice opera, 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 singer who usurps his position. But when the murder of scene painter Luca Cavalieri threatens to close the opera house, Tito sees an opportunity to reclaim his status and jumps at the chance to find the killer. He is aided by Englishman Augustus "Gussie" Rumbolt, who is in Europe making his grand tour. The hunt for the person who wears the mask of Palantinus carries Tito and Gussie into the treacherous depths of the city of Venice, dedicated to masquerade and pleasure, where Tito matches wits with the masked leader of a secret society bent on the destruction of Venice's Jewish ghetto.
Painted Veil
The Second Baroque Mystery
1 of 1 copy available
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Creators
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Series
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Publisher
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Release date
September 6, 2012 -
Formats
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OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9781481573061
- File size: 288694 KB
- Duration: 10:01:26
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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Starred review from February 28, 2005
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. Agent, Ashley Grayson Literary Agency.
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