This year’s a Venice year. By which I mean, I have a Venice novel out instead of a Sicilian novel. And so, welcome to The Venetian Redemption a title which, I think, works in a number of ways.
This is the ninth novel to feature Nathan Sutherland, British Honorary Consul in Venice and occasional and accidental crime fighter. The usual cast are back as well – Federica brings the smarts, Dario brings his encyclopaedic knowledge of Progressive Rock, and Gramsci – the stroppy Marxist cat – is there to bring his bad attitude. I’m not quite sure how we got to nine novels – it doesn’t seem all that long ago since The Venetian Game came out, but it seems that’s almost ten years ago. And, along the way, Nathan’s adventures kind of became my job, which I’m very grateful for.
But, back to the current novel. In some ways, this is a tying together of a number of themes from the previous two – The Venetian Candidate and The Venetian Sanctuary. I’m not going to say they form a trilogy, but there’s a kind of a consistent theme throughout.
Back in The Venetian Candidate, I introduced Giuseppe Meneghini as a recurring nemesis for Nathan. A shady businessman with designs on politics, but someone who hasn’t quite crossed the line into downright serious criminality. Or, at least, nothing that could be proved. I enjoyed writing the scenes between him and Nathan so much, I brought him back for The Venetian Sanctuary.
Now, I like a good Bond/Blofeld confrontation as much as anyone, but this, I thought, was as far as I could go with the character. And that was a shame. I enjoyed writing him, but I wasn’t sure there was anywhere left to develop.
Unless – what if there was something that would force the two of them to work together? I kept thinking (warning : the Cloister Bell is about to sound a geek alert!) about the cliffhanger to the third episode of the Doctor Who episode Logopolis, where the Doctor and the Master shake hands. Now that was something I really wanted to try my hand at.
I also needed to develop Meneghini’s back story. I gave him a little romance which I never expected to happen - it was just a story that came about during the writing and I enjoyed it so much I started to wonder if I’d missed my calling as a romance author. (As a side note, my previous editor once suggested I make a side track into romantasy. “You’re Welsh, aren’t you? Stick a dragon in it!”. I’m still not quite sure if she was serious).
There were also things I had to dig into from personal experience. Serious things. About getting older. And about loss. I lost both my mum and dad within the space of eighteen months. Quite simply, this wasn’t something I could ignore. Of course, all those feelings about loss and about rootlessness were going to come out on the page.
Redemption, then? Sympathy for the Devil, if you like? Perhaps, but the title also alludes to the great Venetian festival of Redentore, or, if you prefer, the Feast of the Most Holy Redeemer. It was originally established in thanksgiving for Venice’s deliverance from the great plague of 1576, a plague which killed perhaps a third of the city’s population. Today, it remains – obstinately, and against the odds – as perhaps the most Venetian of festivals. People line the Giudecca canal on both sides, a pontoon bridge is built across the canal linking the area of the Zattere with Andrea Palladio’s great church of Redentore, much eating and drinking is done and fireworks light up the sky (following which everyone will shake their heads sadly, and comment that they were better last year).
But there’s more than that. Redentore was also the occasion of Pink Floyd’s famous – or, rather, infamous – Night of Wonders concert. Two hundred thousand spectators crammed alongside the side of the San Marco Basin to watch the Floyd performing on a floating platform in the lagoon. The amount of rubbish left behind required the intervention of the Italian army to clean up. This, surely, was something I couldn’t ignore and also gave me an opportunity to bring back Nathan’s friend Lucia Frigo, guitarist with the greatest (and possibly only) Black Metal band in Venice.
So, there we are – we have a mixture of the usual nonsense and, I think, something just a little bit more serious in the mix as well. Venice is there in all its beauty and shadowy mystery, there’s a quick visit to the Dolomites and to the cemetery of San Michele, and there might just be a bit of eating and drinking as well.
I hope you enjoy it!
The Venetian Redemption by Philip Gwynne Jones Out now in hardback, eBook and Audio, £22 (Constable).
The city of Venice is alive with celebrations for Redentore, the most spectacular festival of the year. The streets are lined with revellers eating and drinking, and boats travel along the canals into the bacino of San Marco in anticipation of the firework display. It's going to be a night to remember, and all the more so for Nathan Sutherland and his wife Federica, who have been invited to an exclusive party in the company of the British Ambassador. The festivities take a turn, however, when Nathan suddenly finds himself struggling for breath and is rushed to hospital. Tests show he has all the symptoms of aconite poisoning, a toxin derived from the deadly wolfsbane plant. An unfortunate accident? Or a deliberate attempt to poison him? As Nathan investigates, he discovers many guests might just have had a motive for murder . . .
More information about Phillip Gwynne Jones and his books can be found on his website. He can also be found on Facebook, On X @PGJonesVenice on Instagram @Philipgwynnejones
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