Death in the Palozzo

If you can’t afford to summer in Italy this year, try transporting yourself to Venice via Death in the Palozzo and watch the city materialize ”in all her trickery, a stage set of domes and bridges, windows and balconies mirrored in the waters.” The last time the feuding Zenos and Capo-Zendrinis got together was over a half century ago, at a fete that ended in the demise of a Zeno family member. When the families reunite at the sumptuous Ca’ da Capo-Zendrini overlooking the Grand Canal, death is once again a guest at the party. The other visitors are no less compelling: the nearly 100-year-old Signora Zeno, who knows ”the virtue of saving her energies for the important assaults of life”; a gnomish psychic named Molly who keeps referring to a past the families would prefer to forget; and Shakespearean namesakes Sebastian and Viola, whose playacting leads to a vicious crime. A stylish family reunion with a cold-blooded ending that proves some people really shouldn’t go home again.