The Bellini Card Jason Goodwin Farrar, Strauss and Giroux $25 HC

The Bellini Card, the third Yashim story, finds Yashim sending his good friend Palewski, the Polish Ambassador in exile, to Venice. It seems the new sultan has expressed an interest in acquiring the famous Bellini portrait of Mehemet the Conqueror. Portraits and viewing portraits are frowned upon by Islamic law. The sultan's advisor has told Yashim to stay in Istanbul, hoping the sultan will lose interest. Yashim serves the sultan, not the advisor, hence Palewski's trip.

In Venice, Palewski, who has set himself up as an American seeking to buy art, is greeted by a dead body floating in the canal. He meets several art patrons and dealers, all of them producing the intrigue that drives the plot.

Venice of 1840 is beautifully described. Yashim and Palewski enjoy some Italian cooking and return the favor by making a meal of their own. Mr. Goodwin has created a wonderful historical series that is thoroughly enjoyable. Lively and fully developed characters, evocative descriptions, an interesting time frame and a city known the world over for its 'intrigues' all are masterfully combined by Mr. Goodwin into a series that has in just 3 stories, become a must read. The Bellini Card adds to the luster of The Janissary Tree and The Snake Stone.

Dave Biemann