Quick on the Draw

Moody’s pleasant third mystery featuring London art historian Alex Quick (after 2017’s Quick off the Mark) opens with a plea from wealthy 25-year-old Sandro Grainger. He wants his friend Alex, a former police detective, to discreetly investigate some thefts that occurred earlier in the year at the Venetian apartment of his uncle, the Marchese Cesare Antonio de Farnese de Peron. Sandro recently spotted a ring in a London pawnshop that he’s sure is his uncle’s. Alex travels to Venice, where one of the suspects she interviews soon turns up dead. Then Sandro is kidnapped, and the Marchese is asked to pay a hefty ransom. Meanwhile, Alex’s dear old neighbor in Longbury, a short train ride from London, has inherited two possibly valuable drawings that may be the work of Tiepolo. Could all these incidents somehow be related? Casting her trained eye on the noble Venetian families, Alex discovers that the rich aren’t all that different from the lower orders when it comes to murder. Coincidences abound, but armchair travelers will enjoy spending time in Venice. Agent: Jane Conway-Gordon, Jane Conway-Gordon Ltd. (U.K.). (Aug.)