Canaletto and the case of the privy garden - Janet Laurence

Second novel in Janet Laurence's series in which the artist Canaletto turns sleuth.Italian artist Canaletto, in London in 1747 to seek commissions for his world-famous views, is unprepared for the nightmare he and his friend Owen McSwiney stumble over while sheltering from a violent storm. For lying against a wall in a dark alley is the body of a young woman, stabbed below the breast. Once the Watch has been summoned, Canaletto's involvement in the tragedy should be at an end. So why can't he get the young woman out of his mind? Is it simply because she reminds him of his apprentice, Fanny Rooker? Is it the piece of paper clutched in her hand that pricks his inquisitive mind? Or is it the brutal slashing of her pretty face in the shape of a letter W . . .