“Who sets out to rob a bookshop on the worst night in half a century? For that matter, who sets out to rob a bookshop at all?” (Quotation 153)

Content
In November 2019, Venice, the beautiful, magical city, almost used to “Aqua Alta”, is affected by the worst flooding catastrophe since fifty years. On their way home, after helping Ed in his flooded bar, Nathan Sutherland and Ed notice that the window of an old antique bookshop is totally shattered. Inside they find the body of a dead woman, Dr Jennifer Whiteread, art historian. As she is a British citizen, Nathan Sutherland, British honorary consul in Venice, is officially involved and as she has been murdered, he begins to investigate.

Theme and Genre
The new thriller of the Nathan Sutherland-Series, set heavily flooded Venice, is about human angels staying together and helping people wherever possible to save La Serenissima, and about painted angels attracting just the contrary.

Characters
This time, Nathan Sutherland has more reasons to try to find out what has happened to Jennifer Whiteread and why, because the police is almost overwhelmed by the situation of the flooded city and on the other hand, the grieving father of Jennifer has come to Venice and asks for answers.

Plot and writing
The story takes place in November 2019 when Venice was seriously flooded and in a state of emergency. Besides the gripping, interesting story about angels in art, the author also vividly describes the hours and days between more rain, storms and hope. While a group of young people, calling themselves the mud angels, help wherever needed, rich Giles Markham of Markham Charity Foundation, offers noticeable sums to help to preserve the ancient buildings. There is a second storyline, a story within the story, in form of an internal monologue that gives us more and more hints, but never too much. Therefore, the story is gripping and unexpected twists keep the plot unforeseeable.

Conclusion
Atmospheric, interesting and amazing, in my opinion one of the best books of the series. ( )

One of my happiest discoveries of 2022 was Philip Gwynne Jones’s excellent series of crime novels set in Venice and featuring British Honorary Consul, Nathan Sutherland. Nathan is a very likeable fellow, being charmingly self-deprecating, and always looking for any excuse to enjoy a quick spritz.

This is the sixth novel in the series, and maintains the high standard set by its predecessors. On the night of a ferocious storm that coincides with the highest floods that the city has seen in years, Nathan ventures out to help Eduardo, who runs the Brazilian bar that sells his beloved Negronis. The bar is already succumbing to the flood, and Nathan and Eduardo rush to move as much of the furniture and contents beyond the reach of the waters. As they stagger back through the flooded streets, they notice that the local antique appears to be open. Investigating further, they find the body of a young woman, and summon the police.

It turns out that the dead woman is a British subject who had been living in the city for about a year, so Nathan is asked to help with the painful task of liaising with her next of kin. An expert on the representation of angels in art, she had been working on her thesis. She had, however, also been working for a charity run by another expatriate Brit (one unknown to Nathan at that stage) which specialises in raising fund to help with restoration of notable sites around the city.

There are far too many storylines to attempt a simple synopsis, but the plot is very well constructed (and certainly more watertight than the Venetian sites that it encompasses) and plausible. Similarly, the characters are equally believable, including the relentlessly surly Gramsci, my favourite fictional cat. Although I have never been to Venice (yet,- although each new instalment in this series makes it more likely that I will visit the city fairly soon), I feel a fair degree of empathy with Nathan, sharing many of his musical tastes (deemed ‘regrettable’ by his long-suffering wife) and having also been tormented by a series of fractious cats, so I am eagerly looking forward to the next instalment, which I understand will be published later this year. ( )