Buy Venetian Blood

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Editorial ReviewsReview"In Volker’s debut mystery, an American financial expert unravels a web of mystery, corruption, and danger hidden in one of the world’s most beautiful cities. But as she gets closer to the truth, she repeatedly finds herself in mortal danger. The subtitle of Volker’s novel signals the importance of the Venetian setting to her compelling, intricate narrative. Her lush descriptions evoke the city’s glories…while skillfully building an ominous tone. A riveting whodunit that makes full use of its dramatic setting."

--Kirkus Reviews


“With lush language, Volker transports us to Venice, Italy, and the murder of Count Sergio Corrin. From the opening pages, we are swept up by language, intrigue, and a tantalizing mystery. Volker reaffirms the abiding adage: describe a world well enough and the reader is fully contained in it.”

—Nina Schuyler, author of the award-winning book The Translator

Venetian Blood Murder in a Sensuous City

​A captivating tapestry of murder, betrayal and family, 
Venetian Blood is the story of one woman’s brave quest for the truth—before it’s too late.

​It’s 1992 when Anna Lucia Lottol visits Venice to see an old friend and escape her failing, childless marriage. Instead of finding serenity, however, Anna encounters a frightening world where she becomes a ruthless detective’s murder suspect. Dragged into the police station, she lies about being in Venice the night before. Terrified of foreign justice, she lies, too, about knowing the dead man—a money launderer from Venice who had made threats after he’d seduced her at financial conference in Milan. Anna, talented in mathematics and physics, working in anti-money laundering for the US Treasury Department, struggles to make sense of an irrational city filled with illusions. With murders of long ago spiraling into the present-day and police working overtime to uncover her lies, how can Anna find a way to clear her name, identify the killer and keep her job? She teams up with her old friend, and together they attempt to pry clues from uncooperative characters—some even denying what Anna has seen or heard. Bewildered, she can’t tell if they are hiding something or if she is losing touch with reality. As she resists the charms of an Italian banker, she must ask herself, “Who is friend, who is foe?” Anna—nearly killed by an unseen attacker, beset by haunting dreams, racing to unlock secrets—unleashes a force bent on destroying her. As the mystery turns personal, will Anna save herself? Will she vanquish both her enemies and her darkest fears?
Capturing the delicate beauty of Venice, the novel is a dark love poem to the city whose sinuous canals it traces. Suspenseful and evocative, this multi-layered work is an intimate portrayal of a woman’s perilous voyage of self-discovery. The reader is plunged into Venice’s tangled web of alleys and canals, but soon realizes that the connections do not stop at the shores of the Adriatic. The fates of creatures far away, the tales of people without a voice, reverberate through the pages.