Very European city on the coast is novel's deadly location (6)
I believe the answer is:
venice
'novel's deadly location' is the definition.
(in the novel Death in Venice)
'very european city on the coast' is the wordplay.
'very' becomes 'v' (abbreviation).
'european' becomes 'E' (abbreviation e.g. EU).
'city on the coast' becomes 'Nice' (French coastal city).
'v'+'e'+'nice'='VENICE'
'is' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for venice that I've seen before include "City of gondoliers" , "Wonderful Italian water-city" , "Archdeacon subject to delay, it's implied, in" , "Grand Canal city" , "Italian city port" .)