Death in a Serene City

Urbino McIntyre Mystery #1

by Edward Sklepowich

When a saint's body is stolen from a Venetian church and a devout washerwoman is found murdered near the desecrated shrine, an American and his eccentric female associate come to the aid of a shocked city

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Crime, Italy

300 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1990

About the author

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.
Interview with Edward Sklepowich

Series:
* Urbino McIntyre Mystery

Reviews

[Monica · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the first book in a series by Edward Sklepowich, featuring a writer/sleuth by the name of Urbino Macintyre. I did like this book but not sure to what depth. This was one of those books where I was always stopping to Google something on the computer that was mentioned in the book. Unlike the mystery books I’ve been reading that are set in Florence, I have no visual map in my mind of Venice. And so I felt compelled to look up this church that is mentioned or that location, such as the isle of Murano. By the time I finished the book I had learned quite a lot about Venice…which is reason enough for me to continue reading the other books in this series.

I felt that at times the book moved rather slowly. Urbino Macintyre kept going back and forth, revisiting theories he had entertained about the murder of Maria. I found myself growing impatient with only being allowed a bit of information to be given to me and then having to wait until Urbino went back to talk to certain characters one more time.

From a plot point of view the book was solid even if the reason for the murder was less sensational than I might have wanted. Still, I’ve already requested the next book in the series from the library so I can continue reading about murder in Venice.

[Italo Italophiles · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mr. Sklepowich is a solid writer who leaves no loose ends, and who writes in the style of the classic mystery writers. His books are not police procedurals, but are the classic three act mysteries, with the murder happening at the end of Act I, after we've met all the potential suspects. Lengthy ruminations on facts uncovered fill Act II. And the killer is revealed at the end of Act III, followed by an Epilogue that wraps up all the loose ends.

The author peppers his books with literary and historical references that will stimulate readers, who have similar interests, to rush to references and to read books, to flesh out the backdrop of the mystery series stories. The extra research is not necessary to enjoy the stories, but it just an extra level of intellectual entertainment provided by the erudite author.

This is my favorite mystery series set in Venice. I enjoyed the cozy classic style, the quality writing, the depth of character, and that the author left much to the reader to interpret, rather than spelling everything out in the modern fashion. Classic is the word that comes to mind for the Urbino MacIntyre series.

Please see my full and illustrated review at Italophile Book Reviews
http://italophilebookreviews.blogspot...

[Bob · Rating 3 out of 5]

Average

Thought I'd try a different and older Venetian mystery and chose this one. Didn't really love it. I didn't feel any real sense of place for the city. And the 20+ page wrap-up just underlined to me that the whodunit was a bit too twisted and not established properly in the story. I'll try another in the series later just to see if it was a beginner stumble. I do get a kick out of the Florian being a daily hangout for a coffee back then in the 80's (published in 1990) whereas now it's so expensive people treat it like a guilty splurge just for the experience. Or are these characters that rich and elite?

[Tracey S Choat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mystery in Venice

This is an intelligent and entertaining mystery. The author's descriptions of Venice, the engaging characters, the history created an fine atmosphere for murder. This is not a fast paced thriller, but a slowly built mystery that's meant to be savored. I'm off to buy the next book in this series.

[Antoinette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Set in Venice in the late 1990s, expat Urbino Macintyre delves into the deaths of a washerwoman and her son, the the theft of the bones of a beloved saint. Eccentric characters, loving descriptions of Venice and its culture, a leisurely plot complete with layers of complexity. I recommend it to mystery readers and lovers of Venice.

[Carol · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was a little slow and the characters underdeveloped. If I am going to read a mystery set in Venice, I’ll choose Donna Leon.

[Birgit Wennekamp]

I like Sklepowich - his style is an easy read while transposing you into a Venetian mood...

[Avid Series Reader · Rating 1 out of 5]

Death in a Serene City is the first book of the Urbino Macintyre mystery series by Edward Sklepowich. The story is set in Venice Italy during the weeks prior to carnevale in 1987. A wide variety of characters are introduced: a washerwoman, a hunchback, a priest, a countess, writers and artists. None are fleshed out in personality, but each eventually contributes at least a little bit to the solution.

Allow plenty of time to read this book; it’s certainly not light entertainment like a page-turner or a beach-read provides. The author is a Fulbright scholar, and it shows: his narrative is at the college reading level, with constant references to history, art, the classics, literature, Italian phrases… Fascinating information can be learned by following up references on Wikipedia as you read. Frankly the references are more interesting than the mystery: I first tried to read the book without stopping to look up references, but found it far too dull. Since I was reading the book for the “Venice in February Reading Challenge”, I felt compelled to continue, so I began following along with Wikipedia to enjoy it more. Many references are completely irrelevant to the story, such as “andron”, the classical Greek term for men’s living quarters (as opposed to women’s living quarters) in a house.

Mystery books typically start with a death and consist of the process of unraveling clues to identify the killer and his/her motivation. Although a death occurs early in this book, unlike most other mysteries it is not the subject of Urbino’s investigation. He does not decide to investigate anything until page 100, and then he is only interested in the second death. He goes around talking to people (and not finding out much) for the next 100 pages. Meanwhile more deaths occur. Finally Urbino looks for connections between the deaths. He becomes rather smug around page 250, when he begins to figure it out. Urbino stages a not-very-suspenseful confrontation to reveal the killer.

The intricate and far-fetched plot is the least interesting part of the book. Of more interest is Venice itself, the glassblowers on Murano, burials on the cemetery island, the masks worn for carnevale, and dramatic Acqua Alta (high tides).

[Writerlibrarian · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fairly middle of the road kind of mystery. What makes it interesting is the settings, the characters and what the major character reads impacts the storyline. It made me look up books that I didn't know and featured my all time favorite historical-romantic book : Consuelo by George Sand. Consuelo (translated in English). My favorite book from my Uni days. I stayed up nights to read this. Link to the Project Gutenberg text. This is Venice, music, opera in the 18e century. We get Porpora, Haydn, haunted castles in Bohemia, romantic but a little crazy Bohemian count, Vienna, Prague, Berlin. Sand did extensive research for this romantic saga and she wrote it at amazing speed having to deliver a piece of the story a week for her then lover's paper. Consuelo was first published as a serial with very little rewrites. It consumed Sand for months and then after it was all done, she rarely went back to it even to correct typos and such. It is her masterpiece and yet not something she looked back on very often. I liked Death in a Serene enough to get the second one in the series.

[Alan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice setting in Venice, but in the last 30 pages the mystery suddenly resolves but without really building the foundation for the resolution. There were a lot of sudden jumps to the conclusion.

The murder of an elderly washerwoman occurs in the small church of San Gabriele, where at the same time someone has stolen the corpse of Santa Teodora from its glass reliquary.

[Jennifer Banniettis · Rating 1 out of 5]

The book was slow and there wasn't much in the way of mystery. None of the clues were pointing to the eventual murderer, but the writing was just ramblings of the hero's impressions of Venice. I like reading about Venice, so I would recommend the book on that score, but if you're a mystery fan, read something else.

[Francis · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good sense of place, but for me I found the author a rather dispassionate story teller. I did not get a sense of participating in the story. It was more like seeing it transpire while watching over somebody's shoulder.

[Sharon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Italian names and titles, slow to get into but worth reading to the end.

[Phetsy Dutchko · Rating 4 out of 5]

Skeplowich captures the delicious, dreamy decadence of Venice perfectly in this enthralling mystery populated with vivid characters and intriguing plotting.