Any well written story will have a solid sense of place, but it matters more with historical mysteries and other historical fiction since bringing a past setting to believable life is what makes them historical fiction vs any other kind. You can't just say this story is set in 18th C Venice; you have to make the reader see it and believe it and believe that it matters in a significant way, so that the story couldn't have occurred just that way in any other place and time.

Beverle Graves Myers is one of the best I know at doing this. Baroque (18th C) Venice and its world of opera genuinely had color and drama and energy to spare, but it still takes the right author to make the reader feel they are there, experiencing it for themselves. She also makes the people who inhabit her world just as real and believable, however different they are from those of today—starting with her delightful hero, castrato singer Tito Amato.

After the tragedies and upheavals of the last couple of books, Tito is back home and performing again, enjoying life with the wife and son he never expected to have. He's at the height of his powers as a singer, holding the audience in the palm of his hands... except for one box, whose closed curtains pique Tito into aiming his voice right at it, demanding that the occupants give his music the attention it deserves. Which is how he is the only one watching when a masked attacker sends a young courtesan over the railing to her death in the pit below. Of course she wasn't just any courtesan and there are too many people who might have wished her harm, including people of wealth and influence. The irresistible curiosity that has gotten him into so much trouble before sends the sole witness to her death off to investigate. Fortunately Venice has a new chief of the constabulary who actually seems to welcome Tito's help. If only Tito could trust that welcome and the reasons behind it.

This is a lovely, lose yourself in it read, with a bit of vicarious travel to the vivid setting, a nice array of subplots garnishing the central story, and the pleasure of Tito's charming company. One of the things I really like about this series is that it's the opposite of cookie cutter. This is not a series where the same story keeps getting retold with fresh names and details, while Tito has gone through a great deal of development as a person while retaining his appeal as a companion. All in a story that never pauses for breath, sweeping the reader up into a world filled with all the color and drama of grand opera itself.

Highly recommended.

Reviews of other titles in this series

Her Deadly Mischief #5
Whispers of Vivaldi #6