Publisher's Synopsis
Water, ships, boats and boatmen are part and parcel of Venice. When an Australian couple arrives by yacht at the beginning of their retirement, they are bewildered by a convent's tourist attraction; a mysterious missing map. An empty space in a glass case becomes an ironic mystery they can't ignore.
Some time in the shadowy past of this city, the portolan map was created in the mists of doubt and danger. It filled whoever held it with dread; from a luckless sea captain, to a mapmaker filled with doubt, and a cloistered nun whose worst sin was impatience.
Is it as valuable as some people think - and does it lead to some priceless treasure? Does the map exist at all? Taking up an ancient quest, Roger and Denise are duped into modern dangers on the water; both of them alarmed and full of trepidation. Even the help of brilliant Professor Bryn Awbrey can't stop the ruthlessness of cheats, who care only for the money, and whose mistakes and obsessions are not easily erased by time.
Each motivated by their own brand of fear, those in the shadowy past and the hyper-real present are touched by the map and what it leads to.
The Cartographer of Venice is another literary thriller guaranteed to enthral readers of this series. It's armchair travel at its best, providing inventive fiction built on historical fact. It injects a tiny tingle of unease; about what we seek, and how the past can inject the present with apprehension.
