The Lizard's Bite is the fourth in the Nic Costa series, David Hewson's detective novels of love and death in Italy.
Life was never black and white in Italy . . . Something about the place both disturbed and interested him. Venice reminded him of a bad yet familiar relative, dangerous to know, difficult to let go.
As their exile in Venice draws to a close, Roman detectives Nic Costa and Gianni Peroni are ordered to investigate an apparently open-and-shut case, a fire in a glass foundry that has claimed two lives, so all they want is to wrap it up quickly.
However, as they dig more deeply into the insular glass-making community on Murano and the strange Arcangeli family, things don't quite add up. With increasing pressure from above to finish quickly, events spiral quickly out of control – with devastating consequences . . .
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Creators
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Series
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Publisher
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Release date
September 4, 2008 -
Formats
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OverDrive Read
- ISBN: 9780330472586
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EPUB ebook
- ISBN: 9780330472586
- File size: 618 KB
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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Starred review from September 18, 2006
British author Hewson's wonderfully complex and finely paced fourth crime novel (after 2005's The Sacred Cut
) to feature Roman detective Nic Costa and his unconventional partner, Gianni Peroni, finds the pair exiled to Venice, where they look into the case of glassmaker Uriel Arcangelo, who apparently killed his wife, Bella, then committed suicide. Instead of coming to the foreordained conclusion higher authority demands, Costa and Peroni determine, "We're no longer trying to understand the means Uriel Arcangelo used to kill his wife. But why, how and with whom the late Bella appears to have conspired to kill him." An urbane and wealthy Englishman who wants to buy the Isolo di Archangeli glassworks becomes an important suspect. Hewson is particularly strong on characterization, revealing each personality subtly and naturally as he or she reacts to the intricate plot developments. Newcomers as well as series fans will be enthralled.
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