While I enjoyed the sort of insider view into Venice, the story overall seemed sort of mediocre and unexciting. I guess I was jsut expecting something more action-filled rather than about character and people. A lot of the book seems to focus on ethnic differences between the Venetians and the Roma (the term "Gypsy" being considered derogatory) and the conflcits between two very different cultural systems, one heavily influenced by poverty while the other is rather well to do but does not come to any conclusions or present any solutions. The ending felt vaguely unsatisfying because while appropriate discoveries are made, justice is not adequately served at the end, at least according to my accustomed-to-Law-and-Order palate. The voice acting on the audio recording seemed very good and the details of life in Venice were easily appreciable. Not a bad book, but I would probably try one of the other books in the series first unless you were already a fan. This one is sort of sad and hopeless.