"Those Who Walk Away" is a suspense novel by Patricia Highsmith and is almost entirely set in Venice; it has interesting scenes that take place in the canals, incl. the Grand Canal, St. Mark's Square, hidden lanes and walkways, Harry's Bar and the Lido. I read it just after returning from Venice and really enjoyed re-living the scenery. Highsmith also wrote "The Talented Mr. Ripley" which, you may know if you've seen the movie, is set partly in Venice. It's actually a better book than "Those" but doesn't have as many Venetian scenes.

A beautiful book: The Stone Virgin<BR>by Barry Unsworth. It actually has 3 stories taking place in 3 separate time periods that are woven around the one statue. It's primary story is of an art restorer coming to venice to work on a statue, but the other stories take place at different times in history, and all are part of the "story" of the statue.

A couple of great Italy books are Desiring Italy and Italy In Mind. Both have a series of short stories, poems, letters, journal entries, etc. about regions of Italy, by famous authors. Desiring Italy has only women authors--Edith Wharton, Mary McCarthy, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, etc., while Italy In Mind has a larger group of authors.

The Venetian Affair by Helen MacInnes. This is an international espionage novel, published in 1963, but still interesting. It was one of the books that I first read that made me long to go to Venice.