Tian shi zhui luo de cheng shi

While the book shares the author's signature investigative style and focus on eccentric local personalities, it is a standalone narrative centered on Venice rather than a continuation of the events or setting found in his earlier work, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.

The narrative is a work of nonfiction that profiles actual residents and expatriates in Venice, including the master glassblower Archimede Seguso and various figures involved in the city's social and preservationist circles during the late 1990s.

The book features endpapers that include a map of Venice marked with specific locations referenced throughout the narrative to help readers track the geography of the events described.