Published by Allison & Busby, May 2014.
ISBN: 978-0-7490-1655-5
Venice 1954: Rosy Gilchrist
comes to the legendary city with its gondolas, canals and fabulous palazzi
on a quest - to find a particular copy of a translation of the Latin writer
Horace’s Odes by the Victorian scholar Dr Bodger. Not just any old copy
but one with Bodger’s annotations to the Odes for although Bodger’s
translation is pedestrian, his notes are remarkably percipient and Rosy’s boss
at the British Museum, capricious Dr Stanley wants it for an exhibition he is
arranging. The quest is initially unsuccessful - the owner of the bookshop to
which Stanley has directed Rosy denies all knowledge of that particular copy -
but Rosy decides to stay on and pursue her enquiries. After all, in a city so
full of charming cafes and excellent restaurants serving marvellous meals and
exquisite ice creams washed down with a number of gin-and-tonics accompanied by
(this being the 1950s) quite a few cigarettes, there is plenty to occupy Rosy
along the way. Not only that but there is also a whole host of eccentric
characters to keep her entertained. For starters, Rosy’s old acquaintances from
A Little Murder, Professor Cedric
Dillworthy and Felix Smythe are also in Venice, still bickering amicably; they
are there as dog sitters to Felix’s elderly cousin Violet’s beloved Caruso
while she is in the US. And there is Violet’s lodger, the ex-pat Guy
Hope-Landers and his friend the American painter Bill Hewson. An unpleasant
young man, Edward Jones, appears: he is also searching for the Bodger having
been commissioned by Bodger’s great nephew Sir Fenton Bodger to find the
elusive volume; he will do anything, even blackmail, for money whereas his
arrogant sister Lucia is primarily interested in social climbing. Also
appearing are the elderly and very odd identical twins, Dilly and Duffy. And
finally there is the charming but mysterious Carlo Ricardo who learned his
particularly florid English in a POW camp in Britain.
But it is Rosy’s eccentric landlady, the behatted Mrs Dillworthy, and
one of her other lodgers who inform Rosy that an eccentric (and then some!)
millionaire, Farinelli Berenstein, has offered £1 million to anyone who finds
that particular Bodger plus a certain Murano vase. Mrs D who dearly likes a
flutter has bet that it will not be found before the offer expires; since that
will be in a few days she expects to win.
Then there are deaths; first the bookseller Pacelli is found murdered
and then, when one of the gallery of eccentric characters that have gathered
around Rosy drowns, it seems all too likely that it is the news of the £1
million offer that has precipitated both deaths.
This is a charming and delightful story told with a gentle but dry wit
but held together with firm plotting where all loose ends are tied up. Yet it
is not entirely ‘froth-and-bubble’ with added murder: the recent WWII casts its
shadow especially for those who had been involved in active service while Rosy
herself still grieves, silently but deeply, for her parents and her RAF pilot
fiance who died during the conflict. Highly recommended.
------
Reviewer: Radmila May
Suzette
Hill was born
in Eastbourne, Sussex, in 1941; but has lived in many locations - the Midlands, Nottingham,
Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Berkshire - and finally in retirement to Ledbury in
Hereforshire. Although being an English graduate of two universities and having
taught ‘Eng. Lit.’ all her professional life, she never did ever contemplate
doing any creative writing herse
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