Eccentric American Urbino Mcintyre, long-time Venice-resident, literary biographer and reluctant amateur sleuth, finds himself dragged into an intriguing mystery by his love of order and justice. But there's a catch. As his dear friend, Barbara, Contessa Capo-Zendrini, keeps reminding him, there is no mystery; just three deaths from apparently natural causes in the space of a few weeks. And while two of the deceased were intimate, the third had only the most tenuous of connections to them. But Urbino knows better than anyone that coincidence is the handmaiden of the lazy mind, and sets about investigating. As Venice prepares for the annual Regatta and the atmosphere reaches fever pitch, Urbino finds himself unable to make any real headway, but knows that somewhere, just beyond his reach, is the vital piece of information that just might enable him to save an innocent life, if only he can find it in time...

Author Biography

Edward Sklepowich has been an expatriate American for many years. He has been a Fullbright scholar of American literature in Egypt, Algeria, and Tunisia. He divides his time between Tunisia, where he is a university lecturer, Venice, New York, and a former Phoenician town on the Tunisian Mediterranean called Sousse. His deep feeling for Venice is one expression of his maternal Italian heritage.