Book Review: The Lizard’s Bite

Reviewed By: Catherine Thompson - RAM

The Lizard’s Bite     Amazon US PB Amazon US HC Amazon UK PB Amazon UK HC Amazon Canada PB Amazon Canada HC
David Hewson
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Thriller
Series: Nic Costa # 4
Macmillan, $22.95 trade paperback, 386 pages

Things were looking up for Nic Costa and his partner Gianni Peroni: their exile in Venice was about to end, and their two weeks’ holidays, which they were going to spend with their girlfriends, was about to begin. Then Commissario Randazzo arrives at the train station, where Nic and Gianni have met Emily and Teresa off the train, to interrupt their reunion. With him is the mysterious Englishman Hugo Massiter. There’s been a tragic accident on Isola degli Arcangeli, the island upon which the Arcangelo family have their glass factory. Two people are dead: Uriel Arcangelo and his wife, Bella. Randazzo wants this case cleared as quickly as possible, so that Massiter, a millionaire, can complete his deal with the Arcangelo family and breathe new life into the crumbling palazzo.

Costa and Peroni, along with their boss from Rome, Leo Falcone, aren’t so sure that the deaths of the two glassmakers were accidental. There’s something fishy here, and it’s not just the canals. Massiter was under investigation for murder some 5 years previously, a fact that piques Costa’s interest. Together with Teresa Lupo, a pathologist, and Emily Deacon, former FBI agent, Costa, Peroni, and Falcone start turning up the heat, hoping for a little glass-like clarity out of all the sand being blown in their faces.

The setting of The Lizard’s Bite intrigued me; few mysteries are set in present-day Venice, that tourist trap of Italy. But it ended up being the characters that carried me through, which is always a good thing. Costa, Peroni, Falcone and the others are well drawn. The plot is convoluted enough to keep any reader guessing, though the ending shouldn’t be too surprising.

Catherine Thompson - RAM

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Catherine Thompson - RAM