A Death in the Venetian Quarter: A Fools' Guild Mystery (Fools' Guild Mysteries)

in 1203, The Relative Peace Of The Byzantine Empire Is Imperiled When The Ships Of The Fourth Crusade Show Up Outside The Walls Of Constantinople. Instead Of Traveling To The Holy Land To Battle The Infidels, The Crusade, Having Sailed Out Of Venice, Has Been Subverted And Is Now Besieging The City. The Jester Known As Feste, His Wife Viola, And Their Compatriots Within The City Are Faced With Catastrophe As The Peace The Fool's Guild Has Worked So Hard To Maintain Is About To Be Shattered. with Such A Disaster Looming, The Death Of One Silk Merchant In The Venetian Quarter Of Constantinople Seems Insignificant. But Philoxenites, The Imperial Treasurer And One Of The Most Power Schemers At Court, Has Taken A Special Interest In The Case And Wants Feste To Investigate Venetian Merchant's Death. The Merchant, Of Course, Was Not What He Appeared To Be And, If Constantinople Is To Have Any Hope Of Surviving The Troops Outside Its Gates, Feste Must Quickly Uncover What Forces Were At Work When The Merchant Lost His Life. publishers Weekly in Their Third Winning Adventure (after Thirteenth Night And Jester Leaps In), Those Renegades From Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, Feste The Fool And His Wife, Aglaia (aka Viola), Are In Constantinople On A Mission: To Keep A Finger On The Pulse Of Byzantium And, Working Behind The Scenes, To Promote Peace As The Fourth Crusade Threatens The City. Their Aims Mesh Well With Those Of Philoxenites, The Emperor's Spymaster, Who Wishes To Preserve The Empire (and His Own Power) At All Costs. Philoxenites Sends Feste To The Virtually Autonomous Venetian Quarter To Make An Unofficial Investigation Into The Death Of Bastiani, An Obscure Silk Merchant, Who Was Philoxenites' Principle Informant And A Possible Conduit To The Venetian Fleet. That The Venetian Fleet Has Just Brought The Crusaders To The City Walls Seems More Than A Coincidence. Gordon Weaves A Complex Plot Full Of Veiled Motives And Strained Family Loyalties With Honesty In Short Supply. Feste Narrates Most Chapters, And His Eyewitness Viewpoint Lends A Sense Of Urgency As Constantinople's Residents Prepare For The Siege That May Or May Not Come. Aglaia Occasionally Takes Up The Pen To Describe Events Back At The Emperor's Palace, But Since She Writes With The Same Voice As Her Husband, Those Readers Who Don't Stop At The End Of Each Chapter Can Get Confused. This Sameness Of Tone, However, Is A Minor Flaw In A Book That Should Please Existing Devotees And Newcomers Alike. (mar. 18) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information. In 1203, the ships of the Fourth Crusade, instead of traveling to the Holy Land, show up outside the walls of Constantinople and besiege the city. Within the walls, the jester couple Theophilos and Viola, agents of the Fools' Guild (and working under the names Feste and Aglaia), are on a mission to avert catastrophe. With disaster looming, the death of one silk merchant in the city's Venetian Quarter seems insignificant. The merchant, however, was not what he appeared to be and, if Constantionple is to have any hope of surviving the armies massed outside its gates, Feste must quickly uncover what forces were at work when the merchant lost his life. Appearing for the first time in paperback, and including the story "The Jester and the Thieves", A Death in the Venetian Quarter is Alan Gordon and his marvelous creation of the Fools' Guild at its very best. The Fools' Guild is an organization of jesters, minstrels and performers who act as secret agents, striving behind the scenes to manipulate events so as to maintain as much peace as possible. In 1203, the ships of the Fourth Crusade, instead of travelling to the Holy Land, show up outside the walls of Constantinople and besiege the city. Theophilos the Jester and his fellow citizens within the city of Constantinople are confronted by the Fourth Crusade and by the murder of a silk merchant, forcing Theophilos to race to solve the mystery and save Constantinople