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LAST GONDOLA, THE
by Edward Sklepowich
Thomas Dunne Books, July 2003
357 pages
$24.95
ISBN: 0312290497


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

Give this author an "Excellent" for setting. I've been to Venice twice in the past, but in many respects I learned more about the "serene city" from this book. It is full of the ambience of the Venice: all your senses are alerted to the sights, sounds, smells, feel, and taste of what is one of the most unique cities on earth. When I finished, I thought: Now I want to get to Venice again.

Different. Just as different as is the city, so is the story. It treats of Urbino Macintyre, an American in his early 40s, who has lived in Venice some 20 years, and knows the city and the language well. He has his own palazzo, a maid, and a male servant who doubles as his gondolier -- yes, he has his own gondola, too. So does the rich Countess, Barbara, the Contessa da Capo-Zendrini, Urbino's best friend in her early sixties who was born an American, married a Venetian, became a widow, and has her own palazzo and gondola, too. This is a series, and Urbino and the Countess have solved mysteries before.

A third American with his own palazzo and gondola (although his gondola is stationary) is Samuel Possle. He's quite old now, never goes out, and has a single servant, a general factotum, the Boris Karlov-like mute, Armando, who is given to deadly glances and excessive mourning for his long-dead sister. When he was younger, Possle was immersed in the high life of Venice, and how well he remembers the rich, fast, sophisticated art-loving crowd, especially the late Peggy Guggenheim.

Urbino wants so much to meet the secluded Possle, hoping he can interview him about all his old, larger-than-life celebrity friends and sell a major article to an American periodical. The Contessa wants Urbino to look into the strange case of some missing pieces of her clothing, if only so she can eliminate her household staff from suspicion. Urbino and the Contessa travel all over Venice by gondola, other kinds of canal transportation, such as the vaporettos, and by foot. They drink coffee at Florians on San Marco Square, and they have meals upstairs at Harry's bar.

When Urbino finally meets Possle, it turns out that the eccentric old man has his own proposition for him, something other than an interview. So they play almost ritualistic games with each other, Possle ensconced in a straight-back chair in front of Possle, who is almost interred in his once serviceable gondola that now serves as a make-shift throne and seems to resemble a funeral bier. They are served a glass of amontillado by Armando, just one, never more, as they sound each other out.

Gildo, Urbino's gondolier, is in deep melancholy because his best friend recently died in a fall from his house -- or was he pushed? To pursue his aims, Urbino must look into the death of Gildo's friend, elicit information from an artist whose wife once was close to Possle, solve the mystery of the Contessa's missing clothes, verbally fence with a defrocked priest turned locksmith, and investigate Lord Byron's past connection with Venice.

It's a slow-developing story, quite possibly because one does not hurry in Venice. Its direction is as sinuous as the Grand Canal itself. But it gradually leads to a climax where all the pieces fit together, just as the individual islands of the city become the whole. And it is the city that Urbino and the Contessa are really concerned with, a city with as much meaning for them as Alexandria had for Constantine Cafavy, or Paris for the Lost Generation, or London for Samuel Johnson.

Cities have a life of their own. To anyone who loves both mysteries and cities, this book will be most appealing. Read it leisurely to capture every nuance.

Reviewed by Eugene Aubrey Stratton, July 2003

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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