A stylish and elegant crime read
Martin Cruz Smith is at his best in latest crime novel, says
From Gorky Park onwards, Martin Cruz Smith is a writer who gives crime fiction a good name.
Along with a few other writers, he demonstrates that crime fiction can be every bit as stylish and elegant as general fiction. The Girl From Venice is his first stand-alone book for some time and it is a pleasure to read on several fronts.
The book is set in Venice in 1945, during the final days of the presence of the German army. Running around somewhat haphazardly between the German soldiers, are partisans, fascists and others who simply like wearing uniforms and making pronouncements.
The beguiling protagonist is Cenzo, an expert fisherman who, by night, patrols the fishing grounds close to Venice. He comes from a poor background but has a brother who is Italy’s most famed film actor, a man who manipulates the world to his own ends.
The story begins with Cenzo finding the body of a young woman floating near his boat. He moves what he believes to be her dead body into his boat, rather than leave it to the fish.
He finds that she is alive, and is the daughter of a wealthy and powerful Jewish family who have been dealt with by the Wehrmacht SS.
Cenzo determines to protect Giulia rather than leave her to make her own way.
But Cenzo’s efforts to help the woman escape lead them into danger. In the background is Mussolini, the self-seeking fascist leader who keeps no promises and is on the verge of flying off with as many gold bars as he can find. As Cenzo and Giulia make their way, they manage, individually and together, to retain a simple sense of what is morally right. With luck and fortitude they manage the perils of the day in Salo, a nonsensical puppet state of Germany a few kilometres from Venice, and the murk of the fishing waters by night.
The Girl From Venice is a crime story, not just because of what the warring groups are doing to one another, but because Cenzo has to kill a German officer to protect Giulia.
The book also provides a penetrating insight into what must have been a terrible and confusing time in Italy.
More than this, though, it is also a love story of some tenderness and a compelling exposition of fishing in unlikely waters, reminiscent of Persig’s Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. It is Martin Cruz Smith at his best.