The Thief of Venice

Homer Kelly #14

by Jane Langton

The seductive city of Venice has lured Homer Kelly to a rare books conference, and wife Mary has eagerly come along, camera in tow. Upon arrival they find their Venetian host, Sam Bell, reveling in an examination of holy relics entrusted to him by the new Procurator of Saint Mark's, Lucia Costanza. Sam is convinced they are fraudulent. (He may be surprised.). But soon the Kellys' tranquil getaway turns into a life-and-death adventure, when Lucia's soon-to-be ex-husband is killed and Lucia disappears, branding herself the prime suspect. Bucolic Venice begins to look more and more sinister as Sam's borrowed relics disappear one by one and his motherless little daughter, Ursula, begins to behave in a most unusual way. The plot thickens with the help of Mary's simple snapshots of jade-green canals, the Rialto Bridge, the Piazza San Marco, the ancient Ghetto, and churches, palaces, and squares in every remote corner of the city. Before long she is in danger, pursued across a maze of ancient bridges while the lagoon overflows and floods the streets. In the end there is a miracle - could it possibly be real? - and a treasure is uncovered, painfully recalling the fate of Venetian Jews in World War II.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Cozy, Italy, Mystery Thriller

256 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Langton was born in Boston, Massachusetts. She studied astronomy at Wellesley College and the University of Michigan, receiving a bachelor's degree in 1944. She received an M.A. in art history from the University of Michigan in 1945, and another M.A. from Radcliffe College in 1948. She studied at the Boston Museum School from 1958 to 1959.

In 1961 Langton wrote and illustrated her first book for children, The Majesty of Grace, a story about a young girl during the Depression who is certain she will some day be Queen of England. Langton has since written a children's series, The Hall Family Chronicles, and the Homer Kelly murder mystery novels. She has also written several stand-alone novels and picture books.

Langton's novel The Fledgling is a Newbery Honor book. Her novel Emily Dickinson is Dead was nominated for an Edgar Award and received a Nero Award. The Face on the Wall was an editors' choice selection by The Drood Review of Mystery for 1998.

Langton lives in Lincoln, Massachusetts, near the town of Concord, the setting of many of her novels. Her husband, Bill, died in 1997. Langton has three adult sons: Chris, David and Andy.

Series:
* Hall Family
* Homer Kelly Mystery

Reviews

[Stacy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I absolutely hated this book. To be honest, I'm shocked I finished the book. But I kept trying to give it a few more pages, and when I finally realized it wasn't going to get any better I was already half way through. The story was ridiculous. The characters were one dimensional. The writing was awful. Now, the only defense I will give the book is that it's apparently the 14th book i a series, and I broke my own rule by not starting with the first book of a series. So maybe the character development had already been well established in previous books. I don't know. And I won't ever know because I have no interest in finding out.

So what's this book about? I don't freaking know. Here's the best I can do for you. So it takes place in Italy, Venice specifically, and they are having record flooding. (Other than making life more difficult for the characters, the flooding has no impact on the story). Sam Bell is a curator putting on a conference and he lets his American buddy professor (Homer Kelly) know about it and invites him to stay with him. So Homer and his wife Mary go to Venice, for like a month?

Sam is a widow, his bitch of a mother-in-law lives with him and he has a fat little girl named Ursula who is a bit odd. Langton likes to make it clear that there is SOMETHING secretive going on with Sam and Ursula, but doesn't want to let us in on it until the end. (Sam could do whatever he wanted BECAUSE... Ursula would steal money to buy SOMETHING). Sam went to visit Lucia (she has some new important job) and on first meeting her asks to marry him and then asks to borrow sacred relics from the church to prove if they are authentic. She gets permisson and he can "check things out" and take them home. (WHAT?! Not an office or laboratory, but his house).

Lucia coincidentally is leaving her husband. Takes her things, leaves him a note and gets a cheap apartment. But what she didn't know was that doctor Richard Henchard had rented the apartment for a week and didn't want to give it up because he had found a treasure boarded up in the wall. But he was afraid she had seen it. He made an assumption (he originally got the apartment for his mistress, he thought Lucia was a mistress) so he found out the name, assumed it was her husband, went to the house and shot him and framed Lucia. Lucia had already found another place to stay and decided to disguise herself and stay put until the police realized she wasn't the killer and found the right person. Henchard had already killed a stockboy who happend to see the treasure from the store room below the apartment.

Homer and Sam do conference stuff. Mary wanders around Venice taking pictures of everything. She happens to run into Henchard as he's leaving the apartment and he is suspicious of her taking pictures so he befriends her. Then he starts going with her everyday on her sightseeing. And then Mary has an affair with him. He had taken her to the apartment and then she saw the treasure. But he let her leave.

Meanwhile some of the relics Sam had at his house were missing. Mary realizing what she had seen she tells Homer everything. He's upset as she tells him but seems to immediately get over it. Then she finds Lucia's picture and Sam finds her. But after he visited his doctor who told him that miraculously his tumor was gone. And his doctor of course is Henchard. And he's so happy he tells Henchard he's going to Lucia, so Henchard follows him. Sam and Lucia reunite (again, they had only known each other for 30 minutes total up to this point) and they decide to be together. Sam goes to get wine. Henchard kidnaps her.

Henchard, by the way, had moved the treasure out of the apartment (cause of Mary) and had kicked his mistress out of her place and put the treasure there. And that's where he took Lucia and shot her and left to take care of Mary. But Lucia wasn't dead. Henchard chases Mary, Mary gets to where Homer is, Homer tackles him, Henchard gets away. Mary tells them where to find him. Henchard races to the apartment to move the treasure again. Lucia hides (he seems to forget about her) and they catch him moving the treasure.

Sam and Lucia move in together with Ursuala. (Ursula had been buying saint statues and had stolen some relics and sewn them into her father's pillow so he'd get better. Which apparently worked). So relics were returned. Mother-in-law goes to live with her sister. Henchard is arrested for the murders. The treasure is returned to the rightful owners (most of it was treasure from the Jewish people who were rounded up by the Nazis in WWII). Home and Mary go home.

Here's a quote from the book "Homer shuffled after him, looking at the greedy smiling faces of his American compatriots, wondering if callow cheerfulness was a general American trait. If so, he was ashamed for his fellow citizens and ashamed for himself. In the face of the troubles of the world, surely cheerfulness was an infantile attitude." The context is Sam and Homer walking through a crowded area full of tourists. Can someone please explain to me how a tourist should behave? Because I would have thought a cheerful demeanor would be positively received by the locals and other compatriots. I have no idea what point Langton was trying to make with this statement. And there were so many things like this throughout the book.

And I'm going to say something I thought I would never say. There are many pictures in the book and other than them taking up space that i didn't have to read, I found them completely unhelpful and poorly done. After I finished the book I read that the author was also the illustrator. Personally, I think Langton should refrain from writing and drawing.

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Venice, city of mystery, filled with great art, ancient religious relics, churches, and, sometimes, sea water. In The Thief of Venice, Homer attends a rare book conference and Mary sets out to acquaint herself with the dreamlike city. Her dreams turn into nightmares when she is pursued by a handsome but nefarious oncologist whom you know, eventually will turn on her. The subplot, about the conference director's quest to examine relics from San Marco for authenticity, also involves a love interest, and a very precocious little girl. The denouement, as both threads converge, is a satisfying one.

Author Langton is hard put to stick with her literary theme in this outing, but she certainly is spot-on with her characters, not only Homer and Mary but also the ancillary figures: the overbearing American mother-in-law, the greedy doctor, the new Procurator of St. Mark's. The Thief of Venice is not one of the stronger tales in this series, being somewhat fragmented with its rapidly switching chapters and subplots. Suffice it to say that there are two current thieves and quite a few historic ones. But it's a light, fun romp through Piazza San Marco and some of the lesser known neighborhoods of La Serenissima, with a smattering of history and culture.

[Tom Godfrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's evident that as time went by Ms. Langton's Homer Kelly series began to go further afield, becoming less Concord-centric and less mysterious. In this book there is no mystery at all, as we learn very early on who it is that's murdered and who the murderer is. Instead we have a love letter to the city of Venice, a beautiful, historic, romantic, and utterly confusing place, bristling with art and architecture. It oozes secrets and seduction, and we have both here. If there is a surprise, it is that Mary has an affair with a very handsome and skilled doctor, who of course is also the murderer. Homer, on the other hand, is more interested in the intellectual and literary treasures, the thousands of books written centuries ago. In fact, Homer has absolutely no part in this story's resolution. I've noted before that the author turned Homer into more of a cartoon than a character as the series continued. The other theme here is that of religion, including the stunning works it can create, and the appalling cruelties it inspires.

[Jacob Malloy · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a charming book in many ways. It's well set in the scene of Venice, boasting frequent Italian, clear familiarity with the sights, sounds, and smells of Venice, as well as a keen and historical appreciation for religious relics and landmarks. The characters are interesting, the book itself is somewhat daring in where it chooses to go.

It's kind of postmodernist in a way I found interesting. All the characters are atheists and the author clearly is too, but atheism is portrayed in a negative light. The subversion gets too much for me when the wife cheats on her husband. The wife and husband are sort of an academian power duo and it really hurt when she cheated on him. I couldn't get over that, and it felt like the book didn't really address it, which was a major missed opportunity. Idk.

It showed strong bones and occasional genius prose that elevates it beyond the mediocre but it wasn't amazing.

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am a dedicated fan of this series, but this book threw me for a bit of a loop. I loved the idea of the Kellys sabbatical trip to Venice, but I felt the characters Jane Langton painstakingly developed over the course of many novels veered into foreign territory too.

I fully understand an author’s desire to shake things up to keep a series vibrant, but I barely recognized the Mary Kelly of this book, and I missed the Homer I have spent hours bonding with too.

If this were a stand-alone novel and were I not so personally invested in this couple, I am sure my response to the book would have been different. But, I think Ms. Langton “ developed” Mary Kelly into a character I didnt know any more.

[Bob · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wander often flooded streets and canals of Venice with Homer and his wife as they get caught up with friend Sam Bell in a murder mystery and a Physician who has discovered a cache of Jewish artifacts an d treasures from WWII. Descriptions of the art and architecture abound and plenty if Italian names and titles to tax your brain. A fun read nonetheless.

[Cyd · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't like Mary getting seduced by the villain. Otherwise well-written and fairly clever. Not really a mystery, though, as we see all and know all from the start. A few unexplained coincidences, but no big deal. Definitely not as satisfying a book as Natural Enemy.

[Vicki · Rating 4 out of 5]

A low-key, enjoyable Homer Kelly mystery celebrating Venice contains one big surprise.

[Sandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

a light and entertaining read I picked up at the library because I vaguely know the author. I grew up in Lincoln Massachusetts where she lives and I read a number of her wonderful YA books when I was a kid.... So, I figured, why not try her adult fiction?! It takes place in contemporary Venice and is a great light-hearted balance to all the more serious but terrific Inspector Brunetti novels (Donna Leon) that I've been reading lately. Still a murder mystery but fun with silly and entertaining characters.....having now finished this book I can say that it was enthralling as far as Venice was concerned. I felt like I too was sloshing and slopping around in my wellies in 'ACQUA ALTA'! It was VERY light weight but also very amusing!

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am a fan of the Homer Kelly mysteries, but this one bothered me due to the completely atypical behavior of one of the characters. If this development had been explained or had been more central to the story line, it would have made for a better book. But Langton detonates this bizarre plot point without worrying about the shrapnel. Those unfamiliar with the series/characters will probably not find it as problematic.
That said, the other elements of the mystery and the visualization of Venice are well-executed and carefully researched. The line drawings bring the Piazza San Marco and other Venetian landmarks to life, as in a private travel journal.

[Mysteryfan · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you're going to do quirky, this is the way to do quirky. It's set in Venice, it's full of the details that Jane Langton is so good at, and it has those nifty little drawings she does. Her heroes and heroines are flawed but always seem to muddle through. She includes the details that create such a sense of place, but a very specific place.

[Eugene · Rating 4 out of 5]

My favorite writer. Her books are like comfort food. Enjoyable, fun, and old friend i revisit. This is not my favorite Homer Kelly mystery, but I enjoy the sense of place (I love Venice), her style, and that the rotten people lose out to the good and kind.

[Ed · Rating 4 out of 5]

#14 in the Homer Kelly series.

Homer Kelly mystery - Homer and Mary are on sabbatical in Venice. While Homer interacts with his host, who is running a rare books conference, Mary is romanced by a doctor who is trying to steal a cache of treasures hidden from the Nazis in 1943.

[Charlotte · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book made me pretty sad - I think it was because of Mary's involvement with another man which disappointed me. I generally the Homer Kelly mysteries, but this one kind of disturbed me.

[Sharron · Rating 1 out of 5]

wow, I thought that there was no story set in Venice that I wouldn't like. wrong. this was awful. really awful. insipid characters and sophmoric writing.

[Carol · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting mystery set in Venice!

[Nancy Wilson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun for the Venice setting and the line drawings. If you've read any of Jane Langton's Homer Kelly books, you'll know what this is like. His home base is Lincoln, Mass.