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Publisher:
Poisoned Pen Press |
Release
Date: March 2004 |
ISBN:
1590581113 |
Awards:
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Format
Reviewed: Hardback |
Buy
it at Amazon |
Read
an Excerpt |
Genre:
Historical Crime [1731 Venice] |
Reviewed:
2004 |
Reviewer:
Kim Malo |
Reviewer
Notes: Mild sexual content / Christmas season in storyline |
Copyright
MyShelf.com |
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Interrupted Aria
By Beverle Graves
Myers
1731
Venice. A glittering kaleidoscope of intrigue, romance, music,
politics, and--murder.
Years
away training as a singer have culminated in Tito Amato's return
to his Venetian home for a triumphant professional debut. Except
it's not quite that simple. The long training exile came as a result
of “the cutting”--surgery that turned Tito into a castrato.
There are those who may be the superstars of their time onstage,
but their lives offstage are an endless round of intrusive fascination
or contempt. Tito gets reminded of that before he has a chance to
step off the boat onto Venetian soil. While the triumph of his debut
quickly turns to disaster when one of his new friends in the opera
company is murdered and Felice--an old friend who had accompanied
Tito to Venice--is arrested for the crime. Felice's execution within
a few days is certain unless Tito can prove him innocent, since
no one else has shown any interest in looking for alternative suspects--not
that launching a career and finding a murderer is all that Tito
has to deal with. He has come home to a slew of family problems,
old and new, and the fascinating attentions of a beautiful admirer.
Don't
assume because of its operatic core that this is a slow-paced, esoteric,
high-brow tale of interest only to opera fans. It's actually a romp,
full of clashing passions and non-stop action, taking you through
the vividly depicted many worlds of 18th century Venice, from chilly
canals and opera-loving gondoliers to merchant prince's palaces
and an island famous for houses of pleasure. All of this is seen
through the eyes of an engaging protagonist whose worldview is particularly
unique because of the surgery that changed his life and what we
learn that means to him.
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