It is not even officially winter yet, and I don't know about you, but I have already used up all of my bad weather driving nerves.
A few hearty souls made their way in on Sunday to join me for the Usual Suspects discussion of Ngaio Marsh's Tied up in Tinsel.
I don't know what I was thinking when I came up with the "In the Dead of Winter" theme for our January and February books. I should have come up with something tropical.
On Sunday, January 20th, at 2 p.m. we will be discussing Death at La Fenice by Donna Leon.
This is the first title in a critically acclaimed series - “A splendid series . . . with a backdrop of the city so vivid you can almost smell it.” The Sunday Telegraph (London).
There is little violent crime in Venice, a serenely beautiful floating city of mystery and magic, history and decay. But evil does occasionally rear its head in the jurisdiction of Guido Brunetti, the suave, urbane police commissario.
All of his admirable abilities must come into play in the deadly affair of Maestro Helmut Wellauer, a world-renowned conductor who died from cyanide poisoning during an intermission at La Fenice.
But as the investigation unfolds beneath bleak Venetian wintery skies, a chilling picture slowly begins to take shape -- a detailed portrait of revenge painted with vivid strokes of hatred and depravity. And the dilemma for Brunetti will not be finding a murder suspect, but rather narrowing the choices down to one.
The Library has acquired one new copy of each title in the series, including the ones previously only available abroad. I have come up with a handy guide to the American titles that includes the corresponding UK titles and a synopsis of each book. This is one set where it was a mystery just to figure out which book was which and whether I had read it already. Just send me an e-mail and I will send back a copy.