VENICE BEAUTIES
MYSTERIES

NOW AVAILABLE!
THE COURTESAN’S PIRATE

1614. At long last, Belladonna has been reunited with Isaak, a pirate captain, on the island of Jamaica. Amidst the chaos of hurricanes and Spanish marauders, they are separated. When she discovers her beloved Isaak is captured and bound for execution in Spain, Belladonna goes back to Venice, planning to leverage her allies to save him, only to learn her influence has diminished. Now facing cunning adversaries and shifting alliances, she must navigate perilous intrigues in a high-stakes bid to rescue Isaak
from a tragic fate. Belladonna risks everything, including her own safety, in a daring gambit to save the man she loves.

THE GALLERY OF BEAUTIES

The Venice Beauties Mysteries begins with “The Gallery of Beauties” which introduces Diana, the rabbi’s scholarly daughter to Belladonna, the most influential courtesan in Venice. They are among the most beautiful women in Venice selected by an artist to be painted for a visiting English nobleman’s portrait gallery, his “gallery of beauties.”

When one by one, the subjects of the portraits are poisoned, Belladonna and Diana come together, mustering their wits and courage to unmask the murderer before they become the next victims.



THE COURTESAN’S SECRET

The second book in the series is Belladonna’s story. A man from her past comes to Venice, seeking Belladonna, and carrying the secret to a lost treasure. With dangerous men after him, he disappears into the labyrinthe of Venice, and they shift their attention to Belladonna. After an assassin’s attempt on her life, Belladonna seeks refuge in the Ghetto, where no one would expect to find her. Until her long lost love, Isaak, a pirate, returns to Venice, offering her an escape.

Tempted by love, threatened by assassins and the exposure of her secrets, Belladonna is faced with decisions that can affect her as well as the Jews of Venice.

Just announced! A Silver Falchion Top Pick and Finalist for Best Historical.

 
 
 
 

2022 Agatha-nominee
2023 Silver Falchion Finalist
Amazon Order Link

 
 
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VENICE BEAUTIES

MYSTERIES

Reviews for ‘THE COURTESAN’S PIRATE’

“Join Belladonna and Isaak on a Caribbean quest filled with rich history, dangerous risks, and suspenseful intrigue. Will the couple be reunited? Can Belladonna save her love and her soul? If you like an atmospheric adventure story, you’ll love The Courtesan’s Pirate. Witty and engaging!”
—Kelly Oliver, author of The Fiona Figg & Kitty Lane Mysteries

"From the pirate-infested waters of the Caribbean to the silken-clad intrigues of Venice, Nina Wachsman vividly recreates life, and particularly the dangers faced by Jews, in the turbulent 17th century. Exciting and richly textured, with strong, admirable female characters."
—Alyssa Maxwell, author of The Gilded Newport Mysteries

Reviews for “The Gallery of Beauties”

“Transports readers to seventeenth century Venice with beautiful women, fascinating society, and murder.” — Kings River Life Magazine Reviews

“Art, mystery and Jewish history in one exciting read”— New Jersey Jewish Link

“What is beauty? To the eye, to the mind, to the heart? Even more importantly, what does it waken in us? Read, enjoy, and perhaps understand both yourself, and others, better."—ANNE PERRY, Best-selling author of the Pitt and Monk mysteries and the Elena Standish thrillers

Reviews for ‘The Courtesan’s Secret”

Midwest Review of Books: “The Courtesan’s Secret is a tale of sacrifice, love, and resilience as Belladonna grapples with her deepest desires against Venice’s enchanting landscape. The quest you will embark on through these pages is bound to leave you enthralled and eager for more.”

Five star Review - Net Galley- “Tightly plotted, the book is a pleasure to read from the opening scene in King James I’s court to the last one in Venice. You will like spending time with these characters, even the assassin. Recommended (as was the first volume in The Historical Novel Society’s review magazine).”

“A riveting tale that is both high adventure and a vivid portrait of Venice's Jewish community in the late Renaissance." —Mariah Fredericks, author of The Lindbergh Nanny

“In lush, well-researched prose, author Nina Wachsman powerfully evokes a lost and dangerous world of beauty, bigotry, and political rivalry through the series’ two protagonists, a rabbi’s scholarly daughter and a celebrated Venetian courtesan.”—Mally Becker, Agatha Award-nominated author of The Turncoat’s Widow and The Counterfeit Wife.

“Wachsman immerses the reader in early 1600s Venice – a world of brilliant jewels, secret portraits, lively taverns, flaming torches, and the glimmering waters of the Grand Canal – but also poisoned daggers, the dreaded Council of Ten, and a deathly plague. will appeal to fans of romantic suspense, as well as those interested in the history of Venice.”— Karen Odden, USA Today bestselling author of the Inspector Corravan Mysteries 


 

17th Century Venice 

Venice, 1612. A golden age for the city and for women of talent, beauty and ambition.

Experience Venice of the seventeenth century with the Venice Beauties series: the revels of Carnivale, masked balls, duels fought at dawn, and the unusual and illustrious women of Venice based on real women of the time– a woman prodigy who speaks several languages and is permitted to take a degree at the university, a woman glass maker from Murano who invented a highly valued glass flower bead, and two women composers.

The second book in the series will take you to the New World, where Jews seeking freedom were still not out of reach of the long covetous arm of the Inquisition. Discover the Jewish pirates, like Isaak, Belladonna’s long lost love, whose mission to free Jewish captives from Spanish galleys and Maltese captivity.

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Excerpt about the Council of Ten:

"A guard took his arm to steady him, and then he stepped forward to stand meekly before the men he most dreaded, the Council of Ten.

The elite of the nobility silently regarded him with solemnity and scorn. They sat in high-backed chairs at a semi-circular table with the Doge Antonio Pruili facing him at their center.These men represented generations of the oldest, most prominent families of the city.

From “The Gallery of Beauties”

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Excerpt about the Bocca di Leone (Lion’s Mouth ):

"He had many rivals for the patronage of the noble families, and any one of them could have placed the damning note in the Bocca di Leone, the Lion’s Mouth, the repository for anonymous accusations at the side of the Doge’s palace:

From “The Gallery of Beauties”

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Excerpt about the Ghetto of Venice

The frenzy of Friday shopping had already begun, even this early, for foods and special delicacies that had to be purchased and prepared today to be consumed over the coming Sabbath, when all work, including cooking would cease. Anticipation was in the air, for although it was a weekly holiday, it was an event that merited dining on the best food one could afford, and bathing and dressing in the best clothes in one’s possession.

From '“The Gallery of Beauties”

 
Nina Wachsman

Nina Wachsman

FROM THE AUthor

 As a descendant of a dynasty of rabbis, one of whom was a contemporary of  Rabbi Leon de Modena, I have many emotional ties to Venice.  I am a frequent visitor to the Ghetto, which has changed little in nearly five hundred years. My mother's sabbath candlesticks were once torch-holders, in all likelihood, pawned by a nobleman in the Ghetto centuries ago.

This story has been in my head for years, and got its start when I read the autobiography of Rabbi Leon de Modena.  His worries and fears for his children --his daughter Diana, and his sons -- an alchemist, a pirate and an adventurer-- are not very different from those of a parent today.   

 

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VIDEOS

 
 
 

SHORT STORIES

 
 
 
 

EVENTS

Qesher Jewish Book Talks: The Gallery of Beauties: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nt65lgNWQko

Authors Over 50 Podcast: https://authors-over-50.simplecast.com/episodes/student-of-maurice-sendak-pens-novel-with-nina-wachsman

“The Deadly Portrait” in the anthology Feisty Deeds: Historical Fictions of Daring Women (Women’s Fiction Writers Assoc., 2024)
https://a.co/d/3sJEFBt

“Murder at the Zeigfeld Follies, in the anthology, Murder New York Style (Down & Out Books, 2024) https://a.co/d/1f5jUSd

“Casanova Takes a Vacation” in the anthology, Gone Fishin’: Crime Takes a Holiday (Wolf’s Echo Press, 2025) https://a.co/d/2i9OiHu

Left Coast Crime - March 13-16, Denver, CO. “Art & Crime”, Friday morning, 9:30-10:20 AM MT

SCHEDULING EVENTS

Nina Wachsman is available for events, under the following topics:

  • Jewish Venice — In the city that invented the “Ghetto”, Jews were more integrated into their modern world than expected.

  • Art & Crime - Panel discussion with four other authors, Curators of Crime, on mysteries with art themes, set in beautiful places.

  • Fiesty Women of History — Panel with two other authors of historical suspense whose main characters are women faced with the need to go outside the norms of their society to survive.