What do you think?
Rate this book
Tito Amato #5
Her Deadly Mischief
Venice, 1742. Tito Amato has regained his zest for performing and is once again singing lead roles at the Teatro San Marco. On opening night, the famous castrato has the entire audience entranced―except for one box with its scarlet curtains stubbornly drawn. Annoyed at being ignored, Tito aims the full force of his golden throat at the fourth-tier box. He is astounded when the curtains part and a woman tumbles over the railing.
The victim is Zulietta Giardino, a mischievous courtesan involved with a young glass maker. Did a wager over a rival courtesan's jewels spell Zulietta's death? Or did the motive involve sinister events in the glass factories of Murano?
Tito faces troubles of a different sort at home. His upstanding neighbors regard his household as an immoral den of theatrical riffraff and disdain his wife, Liya, as an apostate Jew. While Liya attempts to reconcile with her disapproving family in the ghetto, Tito strives to be a good father to his adopted son.
The victim is Zulietta Giardino, a mischievous courtesan involved with a young glass maker. Did a wager over a rival courtesan's jewels spell Zulietta's death? Or did the motive involve sinister events in the glass factories of Murano?
Tito faces troubles of a different sort at home. His upstanding neighbors regard his household as an immoral den of theatrical riffraff and disdain his wife, Liya, as an apostate Jew. While Liya attempts to reconcile with her disapproving family in the ghetto, Tito strives to be a good father to his adopted son.
448 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2009
About the author
Beverle Graves Myers
10 books24 followersBeverle Graves Myers made a mid-life career switch from practicing psychiatry to full-time writing. She's happy to report that her personal mental health is the better for it. A love for Italy, opera, and traditionally written mysteries combine in her Tito Amato novels featuring an 18th-century singer/sleuth. The latest title is WHISPERS OF VIVALDI.
Bev also writes stories that often stray from mystery to creepy. These have appeared in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, Woman's World, Spinetingler, and Crime City Central (audio). She's earned nominations for the Macavity Award, Kentucky Literary Award, and Derringer Award. Bev, husband Lawrence, and Carlo, the world's laziest beagle-basset hound, have recently relocated to south Florida.
Series:
* Tito Amato
Bev also writes stories that often stray from mystery to creepy. These have appeared in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, Woman's World, Spinetingler, and Crime City Central (audio). She's earned nominations for the Macavity Award, Kentucky Literary Award, and Derringer Award. Bev, husband Lawrence, and Carlo, the world's laziest beagle-basset hound, have recently relocated to south Florida.
Series:
* Tito Amato
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
September 10, 2022
In this 5th novel, set in 1742, the celebrated castrato Tito Amato is back home in Venice, on stage, in full-throated triumph over his rival Emilio, when a much-feted courtesan is stabbed in an opera box and flung down to the floor of the Teatro San Marco. Despite a whole theatre filled with possible witnesses including the city's new chief investigator, the killer eludes suspicion and capture while Tito untangles the threads of the dead Zulietta's conquests, her other relationships, and her childhood in Venice's ancient and rigidly controlled Jewish Ghetto.
As usual with this series, the research is meticulous but never intrudes on the narrative. Tito is musically gifted, sharp-witted, and engagingly human, always well-meaning but sometimes jealous or self-doubting or angrily impulsive. The supporting characters who have been with him since the first book are like my own family by now, and the new ones introduced for this novel are well-drawn, easily distinguishable and memorable long after the book ends.
I laughed, I wept, I held my breath.
This is my second time through this book, first time by audiobook, and it's an even better experience now that I've learned so much about historical Venice myself for writing 'Timely Taffeta' (in which Maddie Hatter goes undercover in a fashion house famous for its jeweled Carnevale costumes) and can more fully envision every step Tito takes, every mood of the weather or the passersby or the frenetic gaiety of the great Piazza at the height of Carnevale.
If I could, I'd commission a video game in which I follow Tito on his investigations through those fabled streets and canals, to the soundtrack of all the incredible music he sings through the series.
As usual with this series, the research is meticulous but never intrudes on the narrative. Tito is musically gifted, sharp-witted, and engagingly human, always well-meaning but sometimes jealous or self-doubting or angrily impulsive. The supporting characters who have been with him since the first book are like my own family by now, and the new ones introduced for this novel are well-drawn, easily distinguishable and memorable long after the book ends.
I laughed, I wept, I held my breath.
This is my second time through this book, first time by audiobook, and it's an even better experience now that I've learned so much about historical Venice myself for writing 'Timely Taffeta' (in which Maddie Hatter goes undercover in a fashion house famous for its jeweled Carnevale costumes) and can more fully envision every step Tito takes, every mood of the weather or the passersby or the frenetic gaiety of the great Piazza at the height of Carnevale.
If I could, I'd commission a video game in which I follow Tito on his investigations through those fabled streets and canals, to the soundtrack of all the incredible music he sings through the series.
July 12, 2010
A couple years ago, I was on an author panel discussing different types of heroes, and when I mentioned Ms. Myers's castrato protagonist, Tito Amato, from 18th-century Venice, romance writers in the audience cringed and said, "Ewwwww!" I don't get the "Ewwwww." Tito is just as clever, interesting, and three-dimensional in this fifth book of the series as he was in the first four books. In this book, Tito has settled down to comfy married life and is being a good stepfather to his wife's little boy. Tito's role as a stepfather does figure in the climax of the book. But before that, he suffers the indignity of being the only witness of the murder of a courtesan -- on opening night of a new opera, and during his solo, no less. What's Tito to do but lead us on a fun romp through Venice in search of the murderer? I feel like I'm there. Ms. Myers nails the sights, tastes, and smells of 18th-c Venice, the caste and religious conflicts, the culture of the city of canals and gondolas. She also weaves in an interesting peek into the industry of the glass blowers. I sure hope we hear more about Tito after this book.
December 2, 2009
First Sentence: Did I lay eyes on the lovely Zulietta before she died?
It is opening night of a new opera and Tito Amato, Venice’s premier castrato, is performing his first aria. It is cut short when he witnesses a struggle occurring in one of the boxes and a woman falls dead into the pit. As the only witness to her death, Tito becomes involved in finding her killer.
In an odd way, I loved the opening of this book. While it depicts the vanity and conceit of a premier opera star, it is often that, along with an excellent voice, which makes them such. However, we quickly move to the actual murder. Ms. Myers focuses on several layers of humanity and bigotry.
It is always difficult, but enlightening, for me to read how Jews lived and were treated through history in various countries. And yet, as Tito observes, “Venice treated her Jews well.” Another bigotry on which Myers focused was in her comparison of Tito’s being a castrato and Pamarino’s dwarfism. Both were often ridiculed, yet both were capable of sharing the same passion and emotion as anyone else. When the head of the police put down the opera as not being a real job in the same sense as others, I appreciated Tito’s defense of the contributions of the Opera to Venice and the sacrifices he personally had made, without and without his knowledge and consent.
We learned a bit more about the characters of Tito and his wife Liya, as well as being introduced to the wonderful character of Messer Andrea Grande, head of the police. Myers’ descriptions of people and places are evocative, including the degrees of intensity of Venetian rain. I enjoyed the description of “The Colonies” and the opportunities felt to exist there.
The mystery was very well done. There were excellent twists and well as very good suspense and tension. The clue to the solution was there, one just had to realize it. Unfortunately, I did fairly early on, and that’s what dropped the rating a bit for me.
Although the mystery is resolved, we are left with a bit of a character cliff hanger, but I can accept those. In fact, in this case, it does make me anxious for the next book.
HER DEADLY MISCHIEF (Hist. Mys-Tito Amato-Venice, Italy-1742) – VG+
Myers, Beverly Graves – 5th in series
Poisoned Pen Press, 2009, US Hardcover – ISBN; 9781590582336
It is opening night of a new opera and Tito Amato, Venice’s premier castrato, is performing his first aria. It is cut short when he witnesses a struggle occurring in one of the boxes and a woman falls dead into the pit. As the only witness to her death, Tito becomes involved in finding her killer.
In an odd way, I loved the opening of this book. While it depicts the vanity and conceit of a premier opera star, it is often that, along with an excellent voice, which makes them such. However, we quickly move to the actual murder. Ms. Myers focuses on several layers of humanity and bigotry.
It is always difficult, but enlightening, for me to read how Jews lived and were treated through history in various countries. And yet, as Tito observes, “Venice treated her Jews well.” Another bigotry on which Myers focused was in her comparison of Tito’s being a castrato and Pamarino’s dwarfism. Both were often ridiculed, yet both were capable of sharing the same passion and emotion as anyone else. When the head of the police put down the opera as not being a real job in the same sense as others, I appreciated Tito’s defense of the contributions of the Opera to Venice and the sacrifices he personally had made, without and without his knowledge and consent.
We learned a bit more about the characters of Tito and his wife Liya, as well as being introduced to the wonderful character of Messer Andrea Grande, head of the police. Myers’ descriptions of people and places are evocative, including the degrees of intensity of Venetian rain. I enjoyed the description of “The Colonies” and the opportunities felt to exist there.
The mystery was very well done. There were excellent twists and well as very good suspense and tension. The clue to the solution was there, one just had to realize it. Unfortunately, I did fairly early on, and that’s what dropped the rating a bit for me.
Although the mystery is resolved, we are left with a bit of a character cliff hanger, but I can accept those. In fact, in this case, it does make me anxious for the next book.
HER DEADLY MISCHIEF (Hist. Mys-Tito Amato-Venice, Italy-1742) – VG+
Myers, Beverly Graves – 5th in series
Poisoned Pen Press, 2009, US Hardcover – ISBN; 9781590582336
October 15, 2013
Exactly What We Want in Historical Mysteries
The fifth entry in the Tito Amato series, HER DEADLY MISCHIEF, begins when an opera is interrupted in the middle of one of Tito’s solos. As the horrified singer watches, a woman is thrown from a box in the fourth tier. Since he’s the only person who saw the killer, he becomes part of the investigation, but if you’ve read any of the other books in this series, you know Tito would be involved anyway. The man cannot resist a puzzle.
Although it pleases my obsessive little heart to read a series in order (in this case you’d begin with INTERRUPTED ARIA, all of the Tito books can stand alone. Myers deftly inserts the things a reader needs to know about Tito and his background, one of the most important of which is that he’s a castrato, castrated as a boy to preserve his singing voice. It’s dealt with well—nothing repulsive about it, since the process was accepted in 18th century Italy. If it shocks you, think of how many in Hollywood have multiple plastic surgeries—same concept: We suffer for our art.
The Tito series has exactly what readers of historical mysteries want. First, there’s an appealing protagonist we can root for as he tries to solve crimes. There is a mixed bag of secondary characters, some good, some not so much. There’s an intriguing puzzle, and the reader is given a fair shot at solving it herself. And there’s the historical backdrop. One feels the rain of Venice, the adulation of the crowds, and the corruption of politics. A good historical always leaves me feeling that people aren’t so different now than they were in the past, and Myers’ books are a perfect example.
The fifth entry in the Tito Amato series, HER DEADLY MISCHIEF, begins when an opera is interrupted in the middle of one of Tito’s solos. As the horrified singer watches, a woman is thrown from a box in the fourth tier. Since he’s the only person who saw the killer, he becomes part of the investigation, but if you’ve read any of the other books in this series, you know Tito would be involved anyway. The man cannot resist a puzzle.
Although it pleases my obsessive little heart to read a series in order (in this case you’d begin with INTERRUPTED ARIA, all of the Tito books can stand alone. Myers deftly inserts the things a reader needs to know about Tito and his background, one of the most important of which is that he’s a castrato, castrated as a boy to preserve his singing voice. It’s dealt with well—nothing repulsive about it, since the process was accepted in 18th century Italy. If it shocks you, think of how many in Hollywood have multiple plastic surgeries—same concept: We suffer for our art.
The Tito series has exactly what readers of historical mysteries want. First, there’s an appealing protagonist we can root for as he tries to solve crimes. There is a mixed bag of secondary characters, some good, some not so much. There’s an intriguing puzzle, and the reader is given a fair shot at solving it herself. And there’s the historical backdrop. One feels the rain of Venice, the adulation of the crowds, and the corruption of politics. A good historical always leaves me feeling that people aren’t so different now than they were in the past, and Myers’ books are a perfect example.
April 4, 2014
Here we are transported to the gaiety, the intrigue and the complicated machinations of the ruling classes of that Adriatic gem, Venice. By this time, mid-eighteenth century, Venice is in decline, and no longer the regional superpower with absolute dominion over the Adriatic. Still, her cultural climate is a world-wide force to be reckoned with. That includes her innovative grand opera.
Behind the crimson curtain of the Teatro San Marcos, difficult economic times are at work. In the lofty boxes of the well-born and the wealthy, murderous intrigue stalks some of the inhabitants. When one of the city’s celebrated courtesans, Zulietta Giardino, is murdered by a knife thrust deep in her lovely chest, fingers of accusation are immediately pointed at one of Venice’s leading and desirable young scions, Alessio Pino, heir to one of the most important Murano glassmaking families. The murder occurs during an opening aria by one of the city’s well-known singers, the castrato Tito Amato. Amato becomes the most important witness to the murder and therefore himself a target as the plot develops and skulks along the canals of the city.
Drawing effectively on her meticulous and extensive research, the author brings to life not only the glittering upper crust revels of the city, and its celebrated artistic culture, but readers will come to understand the life and times of ordinary citizens of the period. The novel is well-paced, the characters are enthralling and the complex mystery well resolved. Myers continuing series about the life of the prominent singer is a very pleasurable experience whether one is or is not an opera fan.
February 10, 2013
If you had told me I was going to be totally engrossed by a book about a castrato opera singer trying to solve a murder in Venice set in 1742, I would have scoffed. Laughed out loud.
But I picked it up. Started reading. Couldn't put it down.
So I'm not an opera fan and I've never been to Venice. But the main character, Tito Amato, describes his life, his work, his Venice and his family in a manner that anyone can relate to.
The author, Beverle Graves Myers, has done an outstanding job. I got to taste several flavors (living in Venice, the life of a castrato, the inner workings of producing an opera, the open discrimination against Jews, the life of glassmakers) that enlivened and highlighted the main story without ever taking away from the suspense of the mystery.
I can't wait to go back and read the first four in the series. Thank you, Bob Spiller, for handing me this book and saying "Read this and tell me what you think."
But I picked it up. Started reading. Couldn't put it down.
So I'm not an opera fan and I've never been to Venice. But the main character, Tito Amato, describes his life, his work, his Venice and his family in a manner that anyone can relate to.
The author, Beverle Graves Myers, has done an outstanding job. I got to taste several flavors (living in Venice, the life of a castrato, the inner workings of producing an opera, the open discrimination against Jews, the life of glassmakers) that enlivened and highlighted the main story without ever taking away from the suspense of the mystery.
I can't wait to go back and read the first four in the series. Thank you, Bob Spiller, for handing me this book and saying "Read this and tell me what you think."
July 1, 2013
Castrato Tito Amato is singing his aria when he witnesses a struggle in one of the exclusive opera boxes. A woman falls to her death right before him. She was a notorious courtesan who was having an affair with a glass-maker’s son.
Tito, apparently astute in investigation as well as singing (I haven’t read the other books in the series) teams up with the top official to solve the murder.
The author’s knowledge of eighteenth century Venice is powerful, and you feel you walk the streets and sail the canals along with Tito. The atmosphere is perfect, the mystery intriguing. Tito is an engaging character. A wonderful read.
Tito, apparently astute in investigation as well as singing (I haven’t read the other books in the series) teams up with the top official to solve the murder.
The author’s knowledge of eighteenth century Venice is powerful, and you feel you walk the streets and sail the canals along with Tito. The atmosphere is perfect, the mystery intriguing. Tito is an engaging character. A wonderful read.
January 26, 2011
A high-class courtesan is murdered in the theater in the middle of Tito's aria. Even if he could have ignored the insult, he can't resist the mystery. He starts with what should have been an advantage: he saw the murderer. Can the disguised figure fool Tito, so at home in disguises himself? And as it happens, Tito's wife knew the murdered woman as a girl. In its margins, HER DEADLY MISCHIEF explores the disadvantages of outsiders in society.
November 10, 2012
I really liked all of the Tito Amato books, and I was sad to read the last one! I hope the author someday intends to revisit him, I thought he was an enjoyable character and would like to read more of his adventures, and she left the ending very open for continuation.
August 30, 2013
Beverle Graves Myers takes an unusual protagonist and makes the reader fall in love with him. The setting--18th century Italy--is also superb. A total escape that leaves you feeling more worldly. Loved it!
December 27, 2013
I'm really enjoying the family that Tito has created! He is a really likeable character and I'm so sorry that the next book is to be the last of his adventures. I hope that BGM will do something else with Tito & company at some other point soon!
February 2, 2014
I have loved and adored every book in this most wonderful Tito Amato mystery series. Life in 18thC Venice, intrigue, murder - this book has it all. A highly recommended book from one of my favourite authors.
August 26, 2010
This is the best and unfortunately likely to be the last Tito Amato book. Beverle's plots have consistently improved in depth and complexity with each book in the series.
Want to Read
December 6, 2011Recommended in the book Tolstoy and the Purple Chair.
July 22, 2014
Good quick summertime read
Read
November 13, 2015Good fun, fascinating time and place.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews