Venetia (Historical Mystery)
“A Novel of Venice”
By Roberto Tiraboschi
Europa Editions
288 Pages
$17.00
Rating 5-stars
Edgardo, a young cleric, deformed at birth, and now going blind seeks a miracle. A miracle to restore his eyesight in order to copy great manuscripts. It’s the early Twelfth Century, and the church refuses to accept anything new, believing it will not be from God. Yet there is a rumor that manuscripts exist in the archives of a church library that might hold the key to the discovery of sight once more. Edgardo travels to Venice where glassmakers seek great discoveries in their field of art also.
However, Edgardo discovers something else is going on when he arrives. Red-algae is filling the lagoon, and babies and animals are born deformed. To add to the mystery, someone is killing glassmaker apprentices, removing their eyes and replacing the eyes with colored glass marbles. And the cleric falls in love with a slave, which will lead him away from the church.
Although the story moves slow the reader is pulled into the deep mystery, and the characters keep you turning the pages. The historical aspect of early glass making is done in an interesting way, and not at all distracting from the flow of the story; in fact it is embedded into the mystery in a way that adds purpose to the over all story telling. This may not be for readers of fast action, but fans of mystery lovers will find it a good read, as well as having a strong twist at the end. Highly recommended.
Tom Johnson
Detective Mystery Stories