Dead in Venice

Crime Grant Finalist

By: Fiona Leitch

Narrated by: Deryn Edwards

Length: 6 hrs and 4 mins

Publisher's summary

Bella Tyson is a famous 40-something crime writer suffering from writer’s block ever since a bitter divorce two years before. When a fan offers her the use of an apartment in Venice, Bella jumps at it, hoping a change of scene will have her writing again. Once there, she soon meets Will, a charming Englishman, who shows her around the city.

Enchanted by both Will and her new surroundings, Bella decides to write a supernatural murder mystery and begins researching local legends and the city’s more sinister side, including an illicit visit to the island of Poveglia, spooky former home of Venice’s asylum. Soon Bella uncovers more than she has bargained for and finds herself enmeshed in a series of gruesome real-life murders that uncannily mirror the legends she is researching.

As she and Will join forces to investigate, real life and local lore merge disconcertingly - for nothing in Venice turns out to be what seems, including Will....

©2018 Fiona Leitch (P)2018 Audible, Ltd

It's so meta!!!

I'm not going to elaborate on that title, just listen to the book and you'll know what I mean. This is one of the most original stories I've ever read/heard, and it had me on the edge of my driver's seat the entire 3 hour one-way drive to the big city and back, and when I got home I wanted to know how it ended so I listened to the rest of it with headphones. Do not hesitate to buy this! Also, the narrator brilliantly brings the protagonist and the other characters to life. My only gripe is that the overall volume is quite low so I really had to crank up the car stereo. Hopefully Audible can fix this, and no stars lost for that little nitpick.

I Would Give It 20 Stars If I Could

Seldom does a book tick all the boxes and then some..I laughed until the dogs ran out of the room… I shuddered until I had to stoke the fire in the hearth,… and I smiled and positively swooned at the chemistry oozing from the pages…
Humor, mystery, travelogue and love…. Who could ask for more.?!?!?????… ME, please make this a series..

Venice, Vidi, Vici

"Dead in Venice" is a crime thriller that is equal parts page-turner, laugh-inducer and creepiness-creator. And as my commute audiobook, the damn thing kept me sitting in my driveway well after I had gotten home.

The story's fated couple, Bella and Will, are likable despite their flaws (or maybe because of them), and are just plain fun. Bella's internal - and often external - monologue hilariously illustrates the crazy range of the author's voice, while acting as the glue holding the story together. I knew this novel was my cup of tea when Bella (and in turn, the author) made an unashamed reference to another Venetian thriller "Don't Look Now."

The prose of the narrative was transportive, whisking the reader away to Venice's canals, landmarks and restaurants. The author's strong research is evident, as is her love for Venice, crime novels, food, sex, writing, and justice, but not necessarily in that order. The story itself is well-paced, and as labyrinthian and entertaining as the city's streets. Perhaps the real genius of the novel is the author's de novo creation of a set of Italian fairy tales, which adds just a touch of JK Rowling to the narrative.

"Dead in Venice" is a strong freshman effort, and deserves to be made available in print. I can only hope the author's sophomore one ("Dead in New York" perhaps?) is on its way to my library (also read by the talented Ms. Edwards, please). Well done, Ms. Leitch.

Gripping!

What a pleasure it was to listen to Deryn Edwards superb interpretation of Fiona Leitch relentlessly surprising story. It was difficult to stop listening when life interfered as the numerous tales within a tale, and the many unexpected twists, kept me wanting to know more RIGHT NOW!
Ms Leitch's light tone contrasts with the very serious subject matter, and makes it all the more emotional and powerful for the listener, and she doesn't pull any punches: It is in turn horrifying, funny, tender, hopeful, or sad. Whatever the story calls for, the story gets.
This is a courageous book, devoid of sentimentality but full of sentiment.

A Great Holiday Listen!

Dead in Venice is the perfect holiday listen. A slightly anarchic author, Bella Tyson, is coming out of a messy divorce with a narcissistic husband and is still licking her wounds. When a mysterious fan donates her apartment in Venice to her favourite author, Bella takes up the offer gladly, especially since writer's block threatens to stop her penning her next in a successful series of crime mystery novels. Venice is the perfect place to find inspiration, and Bella can't wait to get her "Eat, Pray, Love" on, as she puts it. By chance, she meets up with a sensitive Englishman, Will, who just happens to be a detective. She asks him to accompany her on an excursion, which he does, but she finds that everywhere they go, gruesome murders seem to follow them. Will asks her to help him uncover the perpetrators of the horrific murders, which seem to inspired by a book of ghost stories left for Bella by her benefactor. The dead begin to fill Bella's dreams with premonitions and she finds herself intrigued but at a loss to understand who could be carrying out the string of atrocities. Like all good crime novels, the gore is tangible, but the wit of the protagonist is delightful, putting a humorous spin on even the most horrific murders. In the end, Bella discovers a number of things: ghosts do seem to be able to communicate with the dead; her benefactor is not all she seems to be, and, most surprisingly, she is deeply in love with Will. The plot thickens as all threads lead to a single source, and Bella has to reevaluate her whole concept of justice. In spite of having gruesome murders throughout the novel, and in spite of the subject matter being traumatic at times, this is a thoroughly entertaining book, mainly due to the creativity of the author, who writes with an engaging self-awareness and eye for the absurd. I recommend Dead in Venice very highly indeed.

A Delicious Mystery from an Engaging New Author

I was a voracious reader as a youth. I would read anything I could get my hands on, from cereal boxes to People Magazine, from junk mail to The Brothers Karamazov. Its been a long, LONG time since I have enjoyed a work of fiction the way I enjoyed DEAD IN VENICE, which has made writing this review a lot harder than I would have imagined. I am not used to being this entertained by an author who clearly loved every minute she spent writing this book, and it shows in everything from her descriptions of the apartment in Venice and Bella's initial reaction to the city, to the way Bella begins a tentative romance with a mysterious detective who has a few secrets of his own. The calculated shift from Bella's eagerness to explore her new surroundings to the growing tension of what happened on the island is masterfully handled, until I was so far down the rabbit hole that I sat in a parking lot listening to the final chapters to make sure I didn't miss anything that was going on. I can't wait to see what happens next for this author and her main character. DEAD IN VENICE made me fall in love with fiction again, and that is really saying something,

well-written & read but grim

Love the writing but lurid details of deaths and killer motivation not my cup. Will check out another of her books.

Should have been labeled a romantic mystery

I always check the categories listed below the brief synopsis audible supplies before making a decision. Then I read the reviews. This book was labeled Literature, Fiction and Suspense. It seemed to me the whole story was about romance. I agree with reviewers Deryn Edwards is great, however, I am not interested in the sexual drive of the lead character.

Disappointing

The ONLY reason I finished this book and did not return it is because I really wanted it to get better, much, much better. Deryn Edwards is stupendous and the author is clearly funny (at times...) but for me the story-line borders on ridiculous even to the point of stupid. It's like it tried hard to be clever and thus interesting but it fell so flat I feel sad I cannot get those six hours of my life back.

Horrible and embarrassing

Obnoxious main character - not even scarcely believable plot and disingenuous moral outrage expressed in absurd exclamations.