The Bellini Card by Jason GoodwinRead about another entry on the list.
A very different Venice is evoked in this period detective novel. Goodwin’s unlikely hero is Yashim, a eunuch from the Ottoman court who possesses a rare aptitude for solving crimes, and in The Bellini Card he takes Yashim and his side kick to Venice in search of a lost Bellini portrait. The period is 1840 when La Serenissima is under Austrian occupation, its aristocracy has been stripped its powers and its economy is in serious decline. Goodwin paints a wonderfully convincing picture of the once-fabled city now playing for its life against a tense backdrop of international politics.
The Page 69 Test: The Bellini Card.
--Marshal Zeringue
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