Life was never black and white in Italy ...Something about the place both disturbed and interested him. Venice reminded him of a bad yet familiar relative, dangerous to know, difficult to let go. As their exile in Venice draws to a close, Roman detectives Nic Costa and Gianni Peroni are ordered to investigate an apparently open-and-shut case, a fire in a glass foundry that has claimed two lives, so all they want is to wrap it up quickly. However, as they dig more deeply into the insular glass-making community on Murano and the strange Arcangeli family, things don't quite add up. With increasing pressure from above to finish quickly, events spiral quickly out of control with devastating consequences ...'You have a treat in store ...Superb' Toronto Globe & Mail 'Very enjoyable Italian mysteries ...cleverly worked out and sharply written' Literary Review

Wonderfully complex and finely paced.... Newcomers as well as [Nic Costa] series fans will be enthralled. -- Publishers Weekly, starred review Part spaghetti Western, part buddy movie ... and more engaging than a Venetian sunset. -- Rocky Mountain News From the Hardcover edition.

David Hewson was born in Yorkshire in 1953. He was a journalist from the age of seventeen, working most recently for The Sunday Times. He has also written several novels, as well as a number of travel books. Following A Season for the Dead, The Villa of Mysteries and The Sacred Cut, The Lizard's Bite is the fourth in his Italian crime series featuring Detective Nic Costa. The author lives in Kent.