FAREWELL TO THE FLESH

by Edward Sklepowich ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 21, 1991

The stabbing of photographer Valentine Gibbon at the height of the Venetian carnevale seems tailor-made for amateur sleuth Urbino Macintryre and his friend and confidante Barbara, Countess da Capo-Zendrini (Death in a Serene City, 1990), especially after revelations about Val's tirelessly sub rosa financial and sexual activities implicate his current lover Hazel Reeve; Barbara's old schoolmate Berenice Pillow, and her gay stepson Tonio Vico; Dora Spaak, Val's fellow-lodger among the nuns at Casa Crispina, and her brother Nicholas and mother Stella Maris Spaak; and self-styled spiritualist Xenia Campi, who spends all her time passing out leaflets condemning the commercialism of the carnevale (""Venice is not Disney World!""). As before: lots of masks, genteel aspersions, red herrings, leisurely interrogations, lovers' confessions, and dollops of high culture. Just the thing for readers who think Ngaio Marsh died too young.

Pub Date: Nov. 21, 1991

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: 352

Publisher: Morrow

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1991

Categories: FICTION