After a particularly bad streak of luck in Vegas, Charlie has retreated to Venice, having vowed to give up a life of crime to write crime fiction full-time. But inspiration has yet to strike. And to make matters worse, Charlie’s agent Victoria shows up at his door just as his prized first edition of "The Maltese Falcon" flies out the window with a femme-fatale burglar. Blackmailed into committing a dastardly crime in order to get his book back, Charlie is catapulted into yet another adventure, this one even more explosive than the last.

One slinky cat burglar
A suspiciously heavy briefcase
No end of trouble for Charlie Howard

I liked the humour, style & the main character from the off. Charlie is an ex-thief turned crime writer & finds himself the victim of a burglary when his Venetian apartment is broken into by a beautiful Italian named Graziella.
Graziella has stolen Charlie's copy of "The Maltese Falcon" & is holding it to ransom. If he wants it back he has to break into a safe & "return" a briefcase.

The amusing characters kept me entertained as Charlie, along with his literary agent Victoria, try to track down Graziella & recover his beloved book. Initially, Victoria struck me as a rather staid character but the introduction of her father left me thinking that there is more to her than first meets the eye.
Sad to say, I did find my interest waning once or twice but luckily never for long & the dark corridors & alleyways of Venice were well portrayed (although I watched "Don't Look Now" a few days ago so that might have helped evoke the atmosphere too!)

The ending leads me to think that Charlie might meet up with Graziella again or that might just be wishful thinking on my part....anyway I'll be more than happy to read more in this series :o)

Released as part of the SEPTEMBER SAPPHIRE CHALLENGE (#42)
(Different cover to the one shown but still a blue one!)




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