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Sign up todayThe Jewels of Paradise
This audiobook uses AI narration.
We’re taking steps to make sure AI narration is transparent.
Learn moreDonna Leon has won heaps of critical praise and legions of fans for her bestselling mystery series featuring Commissario Guido Brunetti, one of contemporary crime fiction's most beloved characters. With The Jewels of Paradise, Leon takes readers beyond the world of the Venetian Questura in her first stand-alone novel.
Caterina Pellegrini is a native Venetian, and like so many of them, she's had to leave home to pursue her career elsewhere, mostly abroad. With a doctorate in baroque opera from Vienna, she lands in Birmingham, England, as a research fellow and assistant professor. Birmingham, however, is no Venice, so when she gets word of a position back home, Caterina jumps at the opportunity. The job is an unusual one. After nearly three centuries, two locked trunks, believed to contain the papers of a once-famous, now largely forgotten baroque composer, have been discovered. The composer was deeply connected in religious and political circles, but he died childless, and now two Venetian men, descendants of his cousins, each claim inheritance. With rumors of a treasure, they aren't about to share the possible fortune.
Caterina has been hired to attend the opening of the trunks and examine any enclosed papers to discover the "testamentary disposition" of the composer. But when her research takes her in unexpected directions and a silent man follows her through the streets, she begins to wonder just what secrets these trunks may hold. The Jewels of Paradise is a superb novel, a gripping tale of intrigue, music, history, and greed.
Donna Leon has lived in Venice for over thirty years and previously lived in Switzerland, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and China, where she worked as a teacher. Her New York Times bestselling novels featuring Commissario Brunetti have all been highly acclaimed, including Friends in High Places, which won the CWA Silver Dagger for Fiction.
Original bio sent from Cassandra:
Cassandra Campbell began doing voice overs as the voice for Calvin Klein’s Italian commercials. This was followed by commercial and documentary recording in both English and Italian. She has recorded many audiobooks and has received several AudioFile Earphones Awards as well as an Audie® Award nomination. As an actress and director, she has worked at the Public, the Mint, the Berkshire Theatre Festival, Stagewest, Theatreworks, the Baltimore Shakespeare Festival, Millmountain Theatre, the National Shakespeare Company, and the New York Fringe Festival.
Reviews
“The Jewels of Paradise is as much a tale about a young woman wising up and learning to fight more effectively for her own happiness as it is a mystery.”
“From a masterful writer, The Jewels of Paradise is a superb novel, a gripping tale of intrigue, music, history, and greed.”
Cassandra Campbell has a melodic voice and fine, fluid Italian, both important attributes for the narrator of Donna Leon’s first stand-alone mystery. Campbell’s pacing honors the novel’s andante tempo…This is a literary departure for Donna Leon, which will please some, but not all, of her fans.
“Leon spread[s] her wings, and she writes persuasively about music.”
“Fascinating…it boasts the same sensitivity to human behavior that distinguishes her Guido Brunetti series.”
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