LIQUID DESIRES

When Flavia Brollo, a young Venetian model, claims to be the daughter of the Conte da Capo-Zendrini— the late husband of Urbino Macintyre's great friend Countess Barbara—Urbino (Death in a Serene City, 1990; Farewell to the Flesh, 1991) promises Barbara that he'll look into her story. But no sooner has Urbino begun to investigate Flavia's family—especially Flavia's aunt Violetta Volpi, Barbara's old enemy—than Flavia is discovered drowned, and the police write her death off as a suicide. Still, nagging questions remain. Who told Flavia that she was the Conte's daughter? Is the story true or not? What does Flavia's death have to do with the recent rape-murder of her friend Nicolina Ricci, and with Dal°'s painting The Birth of Liquid Desires, which Flavia had found so fascinating? As languidly chatty as Urbino's first two cases (the characters never tell the truth when a lie will provoke another scene later), while the gelato flows as freely as the Grand Canal—and a lot more freely than the intricate story.