Murder in Venice: A totally addictive 1920s historical cozy mystery (The Posie Parker Mystery Series Book 6)

I am just captured by these Mystery Series. They are fast moving and you are following gasping for air. Story lines are so well thought out. All I can say is read, read and read.

I’ve enjoyed all of the Posie Parker mysteries. They’ve all been great, but this one was superb. Someone should make it into a movie; it’d be well worth the effort.The era of the book is the 1920’s with its “between the world wars” ambiance. Here, however, unlike similar books, it feels more real; it’s not the arch, mad-cap, devil-may-care of the Miss Fisher or Lady Violet Carlyle mystery novels—fun as those are—much less of P. G. Wodehouse’s Bertie Wooster or Noel Coward’s works. The stamp of the period is certainly there, but it’s not so blatant. After all, Agatha Christie didn’t have to make myriads of references to all the iconic characteristics of the era; she lived then and took them for granted as did her readers of the time. In short, the world of Posie Parker is more of a day-to-day world like any “now” always is; it’s a real world with real people living in it not caricatures.It’s also a dark world with a sense of menace and of history about to happen. In part this is brought about by the fact that the reader, at least, knows that WWII is not that far off, and that many of these people will die or have friends and family that do in the next world theater of death and destruction. The reader thus brings his or her own knowledge of that world into the interaction.The mise en scène of this volume is Venice; such a wonderful venue for any mystery, with its history of renaissance intrigue and its wonderful alleys, canals, gondolas and decaying grandeur. Who wouldn’t find Venice fascinating? Wonderful descriptive narrative recreates the city on many levels and senses without being overdone. It’s almost like being there, without waxing too poetic.The characters are multifaceted and, therefore, individual and more believable. History seems to loom over them like a ghost, and like the city itself, all of their lives seem to suffer an underlying “rot.” The intricate interweaving of complex personal motives and secrets leaves the reader changing his mind about “who-dunnit’ at almost every page. Fortunately, this doesn’t arise simply because there are too many ill-defined characters as sometimes occurs in mysteries; you don’t just end up confused. Nor does it give rise to any sense that the author doesn’t even know what’s going on, as sometimes happens in other mysteries. It doesn’t struggle; it intrigues. The clues and red herrings are carefully placed throughout the book, and in the dénouement are explained in a way that makes everything clear.The prose style is exceptional, certainly adequate to the purpose of a murder mystery, but still nowhere near that of an Erin Hart, whose talent is waaay beyond that of a mystery writer. But its more stripped down mode gives it a sense of urgency, making action more central. Ambiance gives it a stage, but action gives it meaning and direction; which is precisely why it would make a good movie.A well written and enjoyable book.

Well, huh. I don't know if this is the series finale of the Posie Parker series. It's a puzzler. With the way this story ends, you'll kind of think: Will there be more? You'll also think: What exactly just happened here? And you may think: Why? Why? Is this how it all ends?So I looked on Hathaway's website. No clue there as to if there will be more Posie P. books after this one. But I must confess that after reading this one, I don't particularly care very much one way or the other if the series continues.That's a shame. I was enjoying these little mysteries set in the 1920s with female sleuth Posie Parker. Up until this one, that is.So what's my problem? Well, although I've enjoyed the mysteries, I have not especially enjoyed the personal parts about Posie's love life. In the first book or so she had a romantic interest in Len, her detective-agency partner. That didn't pan out. Then came dashing Alaric, explorer and bon vivant. Although he and Posie have barely spent time together in all these books and they seemed to me to have a very passionless relationship, they became fiances and now, it turns out, are going to meet up and marry in Venice.At the beginning of the new story, we find Posie arriving in Venice, no Alaric in sight to greet her. And more things don't go as planned, to say the least. As you would expect, she meets up with a mystery, a dead body and countless possible suspects. It's a messy mystery with subplots and perhaps too many characters. And there's also Posie's love life to try to make sense of. She's supposed to be getting married, but it's not all roses and lollipops at the moment between her and Alaric. And there's very little real communication between them either.What's good about the story is the time period and the setting. It's Venice. Who doesn't find Venice interesting? And the time is post WWI in Fascist Italy to make it more interesting, although little is made of the political backdrop. This is more of a travelogue of Venice.What's not so good for me are: (1) Posie's personal problems. I've never cared for or been interested in her love life. Her romantic relationships are not well drawn by author Hathaway. They're sketchy and don't engage me. (2) Author Hathaway's rather callous descriptions of two of the characters, one an obese woman and one a gay young man. I'm neither obese nor gay but the way these two were treated in the book did not sit well with me. (3) The mystery was all over the place. As I said earlier in this review, it was messy and had too many subplots and characters, not only old ones such as Inspector Lovelace and the enigmatic Max and fiance Alaric whom we have met up with in previous stories, but also a large cast of new characters.Usually the mystery is my favorite part of a Posie book and the personal issues my least. This time around I didn't care for either very much.

This is one of the most complicated Posie Parker's books, not because it was hard to follow the plot, but because there were too many holes.Posie goes to Venice to get married to Alaric. Upon her arrival, the police are waiting at the station and not her fiance. He has more important job to do. And he is doing that important job all the time, not talking to Posie. Two days before their wedding. Which is very suspicious and Posie is too proud to ask questions but she talks about her problems with anyone, but not to Alaric.While she is having a premarital problems, her hostess is killed and here goes the string of nonsense about murder from the past, secret wills, family secrets and hatred and it all ends up with Alaric being killed.

Good book.

The plot keeps you engaged and guessing all the way though the book. A light murder mystery, very credibly written. I highly recommend

It puts me in mind of the Father Brown shows.

Another great mystery story from LB Hathaway featuring Posie Parker. I was gripped by the story and could not put it down. No spoilers - but have a tissue or two handy. Can't wait for more Posie mysteries.

I really like these characters and all the twists and turns through the story. I had a hard time putting the book down.