Death At La Fenice by Donna Leon

Chapter 4

"Brunetti walked up toward the hotel, still lighted,
even at this hour when the rest of the city was darkened and sleeping.
Once the capital of thedissipations of a continent, Venice had become a sleepy provincial town that virtually ceased to exist after nine or ten at night. During the summer months, she could remember her courtesan past and
sparkle, as long as the tourists paid and the good weather held, but in
the winter, she became a tired old crone, eager to crawl early to bed
leaving her deserted streets to cats and the memories of the past."

Beautiful writing. Though I have never been to Venice this paragraph captures perfectly my vision of a city that I have only seen pictures of.

Always Say Goodbye by Stuart Kaminsky

The 5th in Kaminsky's Lew Fonesca series, this book was by far the hardest read. Though many of the characters were familiar faces there were plenty of new characters and the amount exceeded my comfort limit. I don't like reading for pleasure and feeling like I have to take notes to remember characters at the same time.

The story did tie up loose ends but it had several mysteries going on at once. Hopefully the next story will not be quite as complex.

Murder on the Rocks by Karen MacInerney

What a delightful little mystery. The location is a small island off of the coast of Maine and the setting is the area around a place called the Gray Whale Inn. The proprietor is the mystery solver and she is a likeable character as is her soon to be boyfriend and niece. The writing was done well - the story told in an easy manner. Will have to get the library to order the next one in the series.

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

Yesterday my goal was to read to page 100 of this book. By that page I was not sure that I would continue. The subject matter was gruesome, but not in a bloody sort of way, and it looked like the book would have no redeeming value.

But I had read many reviews of this story and only one was negative. So this morning I opened the book with fresh eyes and oh my goodness. . . I finished the last 304 pages in one day.

The Thirteenth Tale could have gone bad in so many ways. Just when I thought the story would go one way it was snatched back and told in a way not imagined. I did not figure out the end before I read it. The descriptive writing was beautiful and though the book Jane Eyre is mentioned a lot in the story The Thirteenth Tale is a much more enjoyable book.