CARNIVAL FOR THE DEAD - Pan

In Venice the past was more reticent. Beyond the tourist sights, San Marco and the Rialto, it lurked in the shadows, seeping out of the cracked stones like captured beneath the bright, all-seeing light of the lagoon.

It is February and Carnival time in Venice. Forensic pathologist Teresa Lupo visits the city to investigate the mysterious disappearance of her beloved bohemian Aunt Sofia. But from the moment she is greeted off the vaporetto by a masked man dressed in the costume of The Plague Doctor, Teresa starts to suspect that all is not well.

The puzzle deepens when a letter reveals a piece of fiction in which both Sofia and Teresa appear. Even more strange are the links to the past which gradually Begin to surface. Are the messages being sent by Sofia? Her abductor? Or a third party seeking to help her unravel the mystery? The revelation is as surprising as shocking as Sofia's fate. And Teresa herself comes to depend upon the unraveling of a mystery wrapped deep inside the art and culture of Venice itself.