It’s always good to catch up with Nathan in Venice! Somehow I keep missing when books in this series are released and it’s a delight to suddenly find them and be able to dive into them straight away with no anticipation.

This time Nathan, honorary British consul, has an elderly Oxford librarian who seems to have gone missing in Venice. Of course investigating that is more enticing than translating the lawnmower manual for the job that actually pays him. I love the gentle sense of humour in these books, nothing ever goes quite to plan but it’s never a farce. The candidate of the title refers to the race to be Venetian mayor, the runners for that post are all tangled up in this story one way or another.

Obviously this is another series where the landscape is a character, this one is set in the cold rainy January of 2020, which isn’t the sunny Venice we usually see. And several times the characters mention not being worried about the news of a new virus, which makes me worried for what happens in the next book. I will try and pay attention so that I get to find out what happens next as soon as I can!