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The Lizard's Bite

The Rome Series: Book 4

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The Lizard's Bite

By: David Hewson
Narrated by: Saul Reichlin
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Summary

 On an August night on a small island near Venice, a fire explodes in a glassmaking shop. When help arrives, two people are dead, a rich Englishman is implicated, and investigators from Rome are assigned a case no one wants them to solve.

On their private island, the Arcangelo family defies the world: living in a decaying palazzo, making glass in a terrifying, archaic furnace, watching their absurd exhibition hall sink into disrepair. But now the world is coming to their dying outpost in a crumbling corner of a Venice that tourists never see. Police boats and vaporetti bring investigators, curiosity seekers, and one man who plans to own the property himself. With two family members consumed by the foundry fire, both mystery and opportunity have been bared to the bone.

On special assignment from Rome, Detective Nic Costa, along with his partner, his boss, and a dogged pathologist named Teresa Lupo, is getting in the way of progress, Venetian-style. They know that Uriel Arcangelo and his wife were murdered. They know that a predatory Englishman must be a suspect, as is the family of the murdered woman. And while everyone wants the Roman cops to give up and go home, they can't...because a matter of desire, death, and lies has just turned murderously on one of them.

©David Hewson; (P)W F Howes Ltd Crime Thrillers Fiction International Mystery & Crime Mystery Police Procedural Thriller & Suspense Crime Thriller Rome Exciting Detective Italy
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I really enjoy David Hewson's writing. I am late to the Nic Costa party but enjoyed Lucifer's Shadow very much and was delighted to find this continued its plot. It also included characters from Carnival of the Dead which is set some years after this book. I enjoyed the consistency across all three books.
I disliked the mock Italian accents in the first 2 Nic Costa books but am grateful Saul Reichlin is no longer doing them.
We learned more about Falconi's back story which was interesting. A lovely read for fans of the series as it builds on the characters. I enjoy seeing them evolve.
An interview with the author is included at the end, which was a lovely addition.

Fave Nic Costa book so far.

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I've only recently discovered David Hewson's writings. I've been working my way through his Rome detective series and have been impressed by the sheer range of imaginative stories he has thought up. He creates a great sense of atmosphere and place (this story is set in Venice). He has created a quartet of characters who come alive on the page as one follows their progress through the series. Although each book stands alone as a great listen, there is merit in following the series chronologically as there are developments that unfold across time.
The sequence of books has different narrators but the one for this book is particularly good.

Intriging and inventive story

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... characters whom I feel I'm getting to know. The story was very engaging and kept me guessing to the end. There was also a strong sense of danger and menace which combined to make this very gripping.

Well developed ...

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Nick Costa and company sent to Venice after solving a case and embarrassing Stoic superiors to walk the streets. Looking at a change and a time to develop relationships and lick wounds but soon bored they are soon exceeding their brief to keep out of trouble as they piece together a web of disconnected happenings.

Banquished to Venice.

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Not always an easy 'listen' as it goes the long way round; but well worth it in the end.

Long but worth it

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