A Beautiful Crime

A Novel

By: Christopher Bollen

Narrated by: Tim Paige

Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist | O Magazine Best Book of the Year

“A compelling take on the eternal question of how good people morph into criminals. Terrific.”—People, Book of the Week

From the author of The Destroyers comes an ""intricately plotted and elegantly structured"" (Newsday) story of intrigue and deception, set in contemporary Venice and featuring a young American couple who have set their sights on a risky con.

When Nick Brink and his boyfriend Clay Guillory meet up on the Grand Canal in Venice, they have a plan in mind—and it doesn’t involve a vacation. Nick and Clay are running away from their turbulent lives in New York City, each desperate for a happier, freer future someplace else. Their method of escape? Selling a collection of counterfeit antiques to a brash, unsuspecting American living out his retirement years in a grand palazzo. With Clay’s smarts and Nick’s charm, their scheme is sure to succeed.

As it turns out, tricking a millionaire out of money isn’t as easy as it seems, especially when Clay and Nick let greed get the best of them. As Nick falls under the spell of the city’s decrepit magic, Clay comes to terms with personal loss and the price of letting go of the past. Their future awaits, but it is built on disastrous deceits, and more than one life stands in the way of their dreams.

A Beautiful Crime is a twisty grifter novel with a thriller running through its veins. But it is also a meditation on love, class, race, sexuality, and the legacy of bohemian culture. Tacking between Venice’s soaring aesthetic beauty and its imminent tourist-riddled collapse, Bollen delivers a ""brilliantly conceived international crime story"" (Good Morning America).

Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.

Fun escapist mystery

I loved Bollen’s book The Destroyers so sought this out. Compelling and fun read with a beautiful setting

Edge of my seat

Amazing. Love Christopher Bollen wroting. I felt like I was there. Will never see Venice the same. I see it through Christopher’s eyes wow

Avoid this dreck of a book

Unrelentingly awful: odious characters, inane, non-compelling plot, gratuitous sex and it even managed to make Venice seem uninteresting. A start-to-finish disappointment.

Waste of time

Aside from its setting in Venice, which is poorly depicted, there is nothing compelling in the book. I cannot think of a positive thing to share about it. This is not a good story, neither fun nor funny. I couldn’t finish it. Too many better books await.