This image is the cover for the book Frail Barrier, The Mysteries of Venice

Frail Barrier, The Mysteries of Venice

At summer’s end, Urbino Macintyre races to save an innocent life

In the sun-blasted expanse of St. Mark’s Square, hundreds of tourists form a slow-moving herd, dragging themselves forward on a tortuous sightseeing expedition. Inside the elegant Caffè Florian, the atmosphere is more refined as Urbino Macintyre shares a conversation with his beloved friend, the Contessa da Capo-Zendrini. Life in Venice is serene, and they are happier than they have ever been—until a murder shatters the peace of the caffè.

Three seemingly unrelated deaths catch Macintyre’s attention, and the amateur sleuth throws himself into unraveling their mysteries. But is there a connection, or is the obsessive American expatriate seeing a conspiracy where none exists? In the days leading up to the annual Historical Regatta, Macintyre discovers a plot against an innocent person. To save a life, he will have to discover the ugly truth that lurks beyond the beauty of St. Mark’s Square.

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