This image is the cover for the book Death in the Palazzo, The Mysteries of Venice

Death in the Palazzo, The Mysteries of Venice

In an ancient Venetian palazzo, Urbino Macintyre encounters a decades-old murder

The Contessa da Capo-Zendrini is one of the leading lights of Venice society, but there is one house where she has long been unwelcome. Her late husband’s family, the Zenos, has loathed her since the 1930s, when a gathering at her palazzo ended in tragedy. Decades later, she hits on a devilish plan to make amends: inviting the Zeno clan over for a house party to make up for the one that ended in bloodshed long ago. But soon after her guests arrive, murder strikes again.

The contessa begs her closest friend, American sleuth Urbino Macintyre, to unravel the mystery of the killing before it tears both families apart. No one has been in or out of the house since the fête began, so the murderer must be among the guests. It seems simple, but this is Venice, where death is never easy.

Edward Sklepowich

Edward Sklepowich is an American author of mysteries. Raised in Connecticut, he grew up living with his parents and his grandparents, who immersed him in Italian culture and Neapolitan dialect from a young age. A Fulbright scholarship took him to Europe and Africa, and he has made his home across the Mediterranean, living in Venice, Naples, Egypt, and Tunisia. Deeply connected to his Italian heritage, Sklepowich has used the country as the setting for all of his fiction.

Sklepowich’s debut novel, Death in a Serene City (1990), introduced Urbino Macintyre, an American expatriate and amateur sleuth who undertakes to solve a Venetian murder. Sklepowich treats Venice as a character, using its ancient atmosphere to shape his classically structured mysteries. He has written eight more Mysteries of Venice—most recently, The Veils of Venice (2009).

Open Road Integrated Media