A Beautiful Crime: A Novel

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this novel. I always wanted to read "just one more chapter," which is a sign of great read to me! I agree with those who compare the story and characters to Patricia Highsmith AND with those who remark upon the vivid world-building in Venice. It also has a whiff of Goldfinch about it (maybe it's the antique store aspect or the hint of old New York or the heist travel to Europe), but somehow I found myself absorbing and re-reading passages in a way that reminded me of my first time through the Goldfinch (which is one of my all-time favs). If you're looking for beautifully written prose with a tension-filled plot set in steamy Venice, this one is for you!

In April 2023, the book group at The LGBT Center in NYC discussed this. While some dismissed the book as a well-written genre book (suspense, thriller) we all thoroughly enjoyed reading it as a break from some of our recent more difficult books (by Andre Gide, James Baldwin, Audre Lorde, and EM Forster, for example). Most of us found it to be a page-turner with a (mostly) happy ending for the two main gay criminals. "A Beautiful Crime" has elements of noir to it: we're all normal people just waiting for the impetus to turn bad. In this case, it's Nick who starts out as a charming, handsome Midwestern boy but spots the bigger grift and, after a test run of crime, leads Clay astray. But does Nick really start out as the good guy? He dumps his boring meal-ticket Ari at the last possible minute after he meets Clay. He hatches the plot to crookedly sell the palazzo and then winds up killing the weaselly Dulles Hawkes and beats up Richard West, leaving him a mute unable to respond. The pleasure in the novel comes from the small reveals and suspense whether it will all work out. The rape, late in the novel, seems rough compared to the financial shenanigans that motivate the earlier crimes. Many readers liked the back-and-forth history of Nick and Clay in NYC against the current crime story in Venice although a few believed it over-complicated the story and delayed the final reveal about Clay and Freddy awfully late in the novel. A few thought that the second half of the book was…

This novel painted a more-than-decent picture of its characters against a very intriguing and detailed portrait of Venice, Italy. It did a great job of setting up the plot and describing its world. I thought it fizzled out a bit at the end. I was expecting something more clever and dramatic. There was even a touch of deux ex machina to wrap up a major plot point.