Sarah and Michael Masson are on holiday in Italy, and their tour is making its way to Venice—Italy's most romantic city. But so far the trip hasn't been especially romantic. Michael has little patience for Sarah's sentimental nature or her stubborn insistence on socializing with their fellow travelers. Sarah is tiring of Michael's cynicism. But among their little group of tourists, there is even darker strife: One woman confides to Michael that her husband is violent, while that same husband propositions Sarah shamelessly. And eventually they are joined by two mysterious drifters—one of whom claims to be a mercenary. The journey was meant to be a sunny escape, but storm clouds are clearly brewing. And as Sarah questions her marriage, the police are questioning Michael about a murder . . .
Author
Reginald Charles Hill was a contemporary English crime writer, and the winner in 1995 of the Crime Writers' Association Cartier Diamond Dagger for Lifetime Achievement. After National Service (1955-57) and studying English at St Catherine's College, Oxford University (1957-60) he worked as a teacher for many years, rising to Senior Lecturer at Doncaster College of Education. In 1980 he retired from salaried work in order to devote himself full-time to writing. Hill is best known for his more than 20 novels featuring the Yorkshire detectives Andrew Dalziel, Peter Pascoe and Edgar Wield. He has also written more than 30 other novels, including five featuring Joe Sixsmith, a black machine operator turned private detective in a fictional Luton. Novels originally published under the pseudonyms of Patrick Ruell, Dick Morland, and Charles Underhill have now appeared under his own name. Hill is also a writer of short stories, and ghost tales.
