''A Private Venus'' () is a 1966 detective novel by the Italian writer

Giorgio Scerbanenco Giorgio Scerbanenco (; ; ; 18 July 1911 – 27 October 1969) was a Ukrainians, Ukrainian-born Italians, Italian crime fiction writer. Life and works Giorgio Scerbanenco was born in Kyiv, in what was then the Russian Empire. At an early age, h ...

. It tells the story of how the former doctor

Duca Lamberti Duca Lamberti is a fictional character created by the Ukrainian-born Italian writer Giorgio Scerbanenco. Lamberti is a physician turned detective and the main character in Scerbanenco's Milano Quartet of crime novels: '' A Private Venus'' (1966), ...

is assigned to treat the alcoholic son of a millionaire, and begins to unveil the secrets surrounding the death of a young woman in the affluent world of Milan. It was the first in a series of four novels about Dr. Duca Lamberti. An English translation by

Howard Curtis Howard Curtis (born 1949) is a British translator of French, Italian and Spanish fiction. He won the 2013 Marsh Award for Children's Literature in Translation for his translation from Italian of ''In the Sea there are Crocodiles'' by Fabio Ged ...

was published in 2012. The book was the basis for the 1970 film '' Safety Catch'' directed by

Yves Boisset Yves Félix Claude Boisset (14 March 1939 – 31 March 2025) was a French film director and screenwriter. Early life Boisset was born 14 March 1939, in Paris, France. He studied at the Institut des hautes études cinématographiques (IDHEC). ...

Reception

Kirkus Reviews ''Kirkus Reviews'' is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus. The magazine's publisher, Kirkus Media, is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fiction, no ...

'' wrote in 2014 that "the first volume in Scerbanenco’s Milano Quartet is a blast from the past, a sleek, stripped-down reminder of the fast, brutal days of Continental noir".

References

External links

Italian publicity page

American publicity page

British publicity page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Private Venus 1966 Italian novels Italian crime novels Italian mystery novels Italian novels adapted into films Italian-language literature Novels by Giorgio Scerbanenco Novels set in Milan