The Venetian Venture

Rosie Gilchrist #2

by Suzette A. Hill

1954, Venice. For Rosy Gilchrist the tables may have turned. Her boss at the British Museum, Dr Stanley, has chosen her to travel to Venice, track down a rare edition of Horace's Odes and bring it back for their collection. Rosy jumps at the chance to spend time away from her capricious supervisor and hopefully indulge in a little Venetian culture. Following Dr Stanley's advice, she roams the cobbled streets of Venice in search of the book and crosses paths with old friends Felix Smythe and Cedric Dillworthy. With their help, Rosy thinks she's laid her hands on the treasure but things soon take a drastic downward spiral. A wealthy and eccentric recluse offers a GBP1 million reward for anyone who can find Horace's Odes and pair it with a missing Murano vase. The price on the book's head brings all sorts of murky characters out of the shadows. Soon Rosy finds herself in a race against time as her rivals will go to any lengths to secure the prize ...Even murder.

Genres: Audiobook, Mystery

318 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 22, 2014

About the author

Suzette A. Hill was born in Eastbourne, Sussex, in 1941. She is a graduate of Nottingham and Newcastle-upon-Tyne Universities. Hill taught English literature all her professional life. At age sixty-four and retired, she tried her hand at a short story - just to see what writing fiction felt like, and to her surprise a quintet of humorous novels (Reverend Francis Oughterard series) was the result.

Reviews

[Mystica · Rating 4 out of 5]

The time is 1954. Rosie Gilchrist works for a doddering Dr Stanley at the British Museum who has tasked her with finding a valuable book In Venice. Her boss has sent her on this wild goose chase with hardly any clues, no introductions as to where she could start and the only clue he gave was dubious.

Rosie is simple and accepts people for what they are. In Venice she meets many people who surprise surprise are on the same venture - looking for the same book. Some are quite ruthless especially when it later transpires that there is a massive reward for someone finding this book with the curious addition of a Murano vase! both items have to be found and presented together to claim the prize. Rosie herself just wants to find the book and take it to the British Museum. Seems very simplistic in her needs.

The characters are varied and strange and when the murder count builds up, it is obvious that the searchers mean business and no one should get in the way.

The setting of Venice and the fact that it was quite descriptive added interest. As a cozy it was rather tame.

[Jennifer Davies · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have to be honest and say I didn't actually enjoy it that much. The storyline itself was good, I just couldn't stand the characters! It really started to drag after a while. I would have stopped reading but as part of my job I choose books for the library home delivery service and I thought this would be perfect for a few of the users. However there is a growing trend of throwing unnecessary uncouth language into these types of cosy mystery so I decided to preserver just to make sure it would be o.k. Unfortunately in one of the chapters there was a large amount of curse words, whilst it wasn't as much as is in some books it was still not needed.

However I did give it two stars because it really made me want to go back to Venice and I did enjoy the descriptive elements of the story.

[Richard Pierce · Rating 2 out of 5]

In truth, I found this a little tiresome and didn't form an attachment to any of the characters.

[Rose A · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enjoyable romp made particularly readable by really vivid descriptions of Venice. I could imagine myself in this literary Venice. I wish Rosy had a bit more force for investigation, however. In both her books I’ve read, she seems absolutely determined not to investigate. An interesting tack but starting to wear a little thin.

[Anne Siddell · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was a quick, undemanding read but I didn't particularly enjoy it. I couldn't connect with any of the characters and the plot, such as it was, felt as though the author was making it up as she went along. By the time I reached the end I couldn't care less who the murderer was.

[Samantha · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dire. Boring story and boring characters. I very rarely ditch a book but life’s too short for this one...

[Shirley · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quest for a missing book, fun characters and plot with a great twist towards the end.

[Ruth · Rating 2 out of 5]

A sweet light little read. Highly Improbable plot though. Cautiously recommended to the normal crew.

[Linda Amos · Rating 4 out of 5]

An easy cosy-crime read. Set in 1950s Venice Rosie is after a book, but then so are others.
Looking forward to the next in the series.

[Verity W · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was ok. It had potential - but I didn't love it, I didn't even like it as much as the Frances Oughterad books. The plot - Rosy's boss at the British Museum sends her to Venice to track down a book, other people are after it too, will she get her hands on it or will they beat her to it - is fine. Some of the characters are ok, but others are really annoying and the whole thing feels really rushed and under developed. I'm not sure I'll be looking for any more in this series unless they fall into my lap

[Marilyn · Rating 1 out of 5]

It is a story that was too long getting going. I quit.

[Tiina · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a quaint mystery, and very stylishly written. It was not riveting, but I liked it okay.

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good fun.

[Kate Ainsworth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very funny. Reminiscent of P.G.Woodhouse