Carnival for the Dead------pan macmillan
'Hewson is a daunting talent' Jeffery Deaver
‘In Venice the
past was more reticent. Beyond the tourist sights, San Marco and the
Rialto, it lurked in the shadows, seeping out of the cracked stones like
blood from ancient wounds, as if death itself was one more sly
performance captured beneath the bright all-seeing light of the lagoon’
It’s
February, and Carnival time in Venice. Forensic pathologist Teresa Lupo
visits the city to investigate the mysterious disappearance of her
beloved bohemian Aunt Sofia. But from the moment she is greeted off the
vaporetto by a masked man dressed in the costume of The Plague Doctor,
Teresa starts to suspect that all is not well.
The puzzle deepens
when a letter reveals a piece of fiction in which both Sofia and Teresa
appear. Even more strange, are the links to the past which gradually
begin to surface. Are the messages being sent by Sofia herself? Her
abductor? Or a third party seeking to help her unravel the mystery? The
revelation is as surprising and shocking as Sofia’s fate. And Teresa
herself comes to depend upon the unravelling of a mystery wrapped deep
inside the art and culture of Venice itself.