The Venetian Sanctuary

’I devoured all Philip’s novels and felt transported to Venice with a new intimacy’ Val McDermid

’An unputdownable thriller’ Gregory Dowling

’It is no surprise to find that Philip Gwynne Jones lives in Venice... art and architecture interweave into a story that builds to an almost surreal climax’ Daily Mail

’Gwynne Jones’s talent for evoking place and atmosphere is clear as ever’ Literary Review

San Francesco del Deserto is an island in the north of the Venetian lagoon. The monastery there, it is said, was founded by St Francis himself in the 13th century, following his return from the fifth crusade. Just five monks now remain. Popular with those seeking to escape the crowds of Venice itself, the island also offers itself as a place of retreat.

Summer 2020. Honorary Counsel Nathan Sutherland receives a phone call from Vanni, his friend in the Venetian police force. There’s been an incident on the island. The details are unclear but an Englishman on retreat appears to have died during the night. There are two other Englishmen in his party, everybody is having difficulty communicating due to the language barrier, and so could Nathan come out to the island with him?

The dead man was found strangled in front of the altar in the main chapel. Neither of his companions has any record of violent crime, nor any motive for murder. Nothing appears to have been stolen or removed. Indeed, there are no great artworks or treasures that might be worth stealing. And so, together with Vanni, Nathan tries to answer the question: what past events could drive someone to murder in an ancient monastery in the middle of a lagoon?

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Praise for Philip Gwynne Jones

’Superb - always gripping, beautifully constructed and vivid’ Stephen Glover

’Clever and great fun’ The Times

’Sinister and shimmering, The Venetian Game is as haunting and darkly elegant as Venice itself’ L.S. Hilton, bestselling author of Maestra

’The Venetian setting is vividly described... good, fluid writing makes for easy reading’ Literary Review

’Un-put-downable . . . If you love Venice, you’ll love this because you’ll be transported there in an instant. If you’ve not been to Venice, read this book and then go. If you like intrigue, and a clever plot, you’ll love this book’ Amazon reviewer, 5*****

’The lively, colourful narrative scuds along as briskly as a water taxi...you’ll enjoy the ride’ Italia Magazine

Philip Gwynne Jones was born in South Wales in 1966, and lived and worked throughout Europe before settling in Scotland in the 1990s. He first came to Italy in 1994, when he spent some time working for the European Space Agency in Frascati, a job that proved to be less exciting than he had imagined.

He spent twenty years in the IT industry before realising he was congenitally unsuited to it. Furthermore, an attempt to find a secure, well-paid job with a proper pension had resulted in him finding himself in the IT department of a large Scottish bank during the global financial crisis.

Something, clearly, had to change. And so it was that - following a conversation with a man in a pub - Philip and Caroline left their jobs, sold their flat and moved to Venice in search of a better, simpler future. They were wrong about the ’simpler’ bit . . .

Philip now works as a teacher, writer and translator, and lives in Venice with Caroline. He enjoys cooking, art, classical music and opera; and can occasionally be seen and heard singing bass with Cantori Veneziani and the Ensemble Vocale di Venezia.