An Englishman in Venice

For me personally, it never is a good sign if I can put down a book for a really long time. This was the case with "The cemetery of secrets' by David Hewson, which I just finished. I've read books by Hewson before. I do like his Nic Costa-series. This one, however, doesn't belong to this series. I don't know whether it was for this reason, of because of the story, but it took me more than half way through the book 'to get into the story'. That doesn't mean the story wasn't any good or the way it is writen. It just didn't work for me. The funny thing is that reading the book was a slow process, writing this review went the same. I don't know why. The book is namely not a bad read.

It is the story of an Englishman, named Daniel Forster, who arrives in Venice for the summer to do some work for a shady Venetian, Scacchi. He gets involved in the business of buying a stolen violin, while he also finds a anonymous concerto. Scacchi and another Englishman, Massister, talk him into pretending to be the author of the concerto. Also involved in the whole story are an American violist Amy, a Venetian cop Morelli, the housekeeper Laura and some other minor characters. Although some die, in the end all ends well. I'm not sure whether it is a good end, but it fits the story.

Besides the tale in our time, there is a secondary story which is set in 1733. This story is actually on some level better than the present day story.It gives a nice insight in 18th century Venice. It tells the story of who wrote the anonymous concerto. It involves an ancestor of Scacchi, Lorenzo Scacchi and his love for a Jewish violist, Rachel Levi. He smuggles her out of the ghetto to play in the orchestra of Vivaldi. She gives him a concerto she wrote. Conveniently enough Lorenzo's uncle owns a printing office. In search for money to print the concerto and having it played, they find an financier, the Englishman Delapole. Just as in the present day story, the Englishmen are the bad guys. They are both manipulative, shady men. They give the story a little zing. Otherwise it would be a rather bland tale.

All in all not a bad book. But I would recommend the Nic Costa series over this one.