By setting the story at first broadly in Washington, D.C., and its surround, then very narrowly in the heart of Florence, then back to northern Maryland and the shores of the Chesapeake Bay, and finally far away from all of these, Harris intensifies the sense of adventure and creates excitement. It is obvious that Harris is very familiar with all of these milieus. Washington, D.C., is the setting for bureaucratic machinations, drug raids, and kidnaping in Safeway parking lots. The Chesapeake Bay area is the perfect idyllic escape from these unpleasant aspects for Lecter, while still providing him with access to the art and theater of Washington and New York. In a twist on the usual, we are not treated to a romance in sunny Italy, but rather to dark intrigue and gut-grabbing violence, all set against a background of classical refinement and beauty.

And of...