Carnival for the Dead [Kindle Edition]

Here's a story that is concocted in a way that is as clever as it is complex, but also, to my mind, needlessly convoluted and confusing. So much so that, like one of Amazon's favorite reviewers, Jill Meyer, I was often tempted to call it quits. Still not sure why I plowed on. (Probably has more to do with my great admiration for the recently published "Macbeth" novel this author co-wrote with A. J. Hartley than with ever actually getting involved with this story--at least not until the very end. ) So here's what I think you might want to know before considering reading this one:

The story opens with a constantly bickering mother and daughter arriving in Venice from Rome. It's the midst of Carnival, the city's annual 40-day costume party that ends with Lent. But that's not why they're there. They've come because the daughter, Teresa, the chief pathologist for the Rome police, has received an odd piece of mail from her Aunt Sofia saying that something's come up and she may have to disappear for awhile and would they please come and keep an eye on her apartment and here's the key. Whew! So here they are, Sofia has indeed gone missing and no one who knows her knows why or has seen or heard from her in at least a week. Chiarra "knows" her sister is dead. Teresa "knows" her aunt's alive. Chiarra goes home; Teresa stays on, determined to find her. Alas, not a clue turns up. Until! Under the door there appears a manila envelope with what appears to be a manuscript in it. Teresa opens it. End of chapter one.

Chapter two tells a 27-page story about an Englishman, newly arrived in Venice, and how he happened upon a strange white dog that appeared to be an exact replica of the dog in a Carpaccio painting of St. Augustine that he'd just seen at a nearby gallery. What does that have to do with finding Sofia? Nothing so far as I could see and nothing Teresa can see either, but she's convinced there's a clue in there somewhere. But when she goes back for another look, the manuscript has gone blank. Aha and alas! Disappearing ink.

So, back to where we left off before getting distracted by that Englishman. Except that I no longer remember just where that was. So must backtrack before moving forward. In the next chapter another manila envelope appears under the door. With still another cryptic tale inside. Thus the pattern is set: Every chapter of Teresa trying to find Sofia will end with the arrival of a new manila envelope, followed by a chapter that tells a story that may or may not contain a clue. Somewhere in the midst of all this, comes a story that will introduce us to its author, Arnaud, the Count of Germain, whom many of you (but alas, not I) will recognize as a legendary French "immortal" who's been popping up here and there for centuries. Seems he wants to help. Meanwhile Teresa notices that the most popular costume at Carnival this year seems to be that of the Plague Doctor.

Eventually questions will be answered. Eventually the missing aunt mystery will be solved. And, if you can manage to wade through all this, eventually you'll arrive at page 425, and be treated to a most interesting 35 pages that will clear up most, if not all, of the loose ends in this very weird story. But worth all it took to get there? Up to you. Still not sure about me.

David Hewson's Nic Costa series always comes through with an enticing mystery set in atmospheric Italy. In Carnival for the Dead, Nic and his police colleagues are present only in the thoughts of Teresa Lupo, the feisty pathologist who assists on their cases. Teresa's on her own in this outing, in Venice at the behest of her mother, who is worried about Sofia, her sister and Teresa's favorite aunt. Sofia has always led a bohemian sort of life, but now seems to have vanished.

Hewson has set this mystery in the midst of Venice's famed Carnival, and the ambiance couldn't be more unsettling. She is staying at her aunt's disheveled flat, and no sooner has she arrived than a thick manuscript is delivered by a neighbor. She spends the evening reading what appears to be a work of fiction about Sofia, in which Teresa is also a character. When she awakens in the morning, the pages are blank.

This is a tour de force sort of novel of stories within stories. It requires careful reading, because after a while it becomes more and more challenging to separate fact from fiction. Most of the people that Teresa meets on the street are in full costume, and the ominous disguise of the Plague Doctor seems the most common. Hewson does a masterful job invoking the spirit of Carnival Venice, where no one can be taken at face value as they wend their way through the dark maze of calle and canals. The ending is sensational, intricately layered with surprises.

Hewson's best novel yet, in a string of very good novels indeed.

After receiving a letter from her Aunt Sophie, police pathologist Teresa Lupo travels from Rome to Venice to investigate her aunt's disappearance. However, it is Carnival time in Venice and the local police have other priorities, leaving Teresa to her own devices in her search, assisted by Alberto Tosi, a retired local pathologist. As she tries to uncover clues as to the whereabouts of her missing aunt, she receives a series of envelopes that include stories about her aunt and herself, along with some other mysterious characters, all pointing to a set of paintings by Carpaccio. As Teresa digs into her aunt's past and struggles to understand the message conveyed by the paintings, she comes to understand just how little she knew her aunt and her life.

The mystery (or actually, mysteries, since there are several that interweave into a single mesh) in this story unravels slowly, keeping the reader in suspense right up to the very last page. Along the way, we are treated to splendid descriptions of the city of Venice, which almost becomes a character in its own right, breathing life into the story in ways that other settings simply wouldn't be able to. In particular, the nature of the Carnival celebrations, with the anonymity provided by the costumes and masks, lends a extra air of mystery and fantasy that serves the story well. In the end, one significant question is left unanswered (and, in fact, it might be unanswerable), so that the reader is left to ponder the possibilities and what they believe.

Teresa Lupo is a character from other books by this author, and there appear to be references to events from those other books included in here. However, they are not critical to the story, and this book does stand well on its own, so that the reader doesn't necessarily have to have read the earlier books to enjoy this one.