Death of a Daughter of Venice. 1739 The Venice of Vivaldi, Canaletto and Goldoni. Harry Brierfield, a young Englishman of limited means is attempting to establish himself painting cityscapes for his compatriots doing the Grand Tour. Things aren't going well, and soon they're going disastrously, when he finds a body in a canal. The nuns who run the orphanage where the dead girl lived are naturally suspicious of his involvement, but Paola, a young musician and the dead girl's best friend, is more ready to believe in his innocence, and furthermore co-opt his assistance in discovering who did kill Sonia. But can they do it, given that the nuns are now employing Harry to copy the paintings in the soon to be demolished chapel, and Paola has a busy schedule of masses and concerts, to perform, not to mention the fact that Don Antonio Vivaldi is composing an opera for the whole orphanage to present to visiting Royalty?