Yet Another Death in Venice

Heald's 13th Bognor novel (after 2011's Poison at the Pueblo) centers on a familiar sleuth working for a shadowy British intelligence agency, fittingly titled the Special Investigations Department of the Board of Trade. During a visit to Venice, Bognor is asked by his friend and local police officer Michael Dibdini to assist his investigations into a baffling crime. While traveling by boat along the Grand Canal, Irving G. Silverburger, a B-movie producer, is fatally shot by someone in a harlequin costume wielding a crossbow. Because the murder took place in the midst of Carnival%E2%80%94when many people dress in a similar fashion%E2%80%94Dibdini has had a hard time getting any traction on the case. In turn, Bognor agrees to help, while focusing his energies on pursuing suspects back in England. There are frequent winks at the reader familiar with the genre, such as this little gem: Bognor "tended to believe, along with P.D. James, that murder was essentially a working-class business, even if it became more interesting in middle-class hands." This mystery will appeal to readers looking for humor in their whodunits, although some will find a surreal detour toward the end superfluous. (Apr.)