The Jewels of Paradise

Notes

The Jewels of Paradise is Donna Leon’s only stand-alone novel to date.  Her protagonist Caterina Pellegrini leaves her job in Manchester to return to her native Venice to investigate the legacy of an obscure baroque composer.

(Though why anybody would swap the Manchester shipping canal for the canals of Venice is beyond me).

Publisher’s Synopsis

Caterina Pellegrini is a young Venetian musicologist hired to find the rightful heir to an alleged treasure concealed by a once-famous, but now almost forgotten, baroque composer. Sworn to secrecy, Caterina can solve the mystery only by searching through the papers contained in two chests that have not been opened for centuries.

As she delves into all quarters of his life, she is drawn into one of the most scandalous affairs of the baroque era. What dark secrets do these chests hold, and just whom can she trust?

Read a full review of The Jewels of Paradise by Donna Leon at mysteryscenemag