DEATH IN A STRANGE COUNTRY

ABOUT FACE

An investigator from the Carabiniere, looking into the illegal hauling of garbage, asks for a favour. But the investigator is not the only one with a special request. His father-in-law needs help and a mysterious woman comes into the picture. Commissario Brunetti soon finds himself embroiled in a dangerous investigation into murder and corruption.

ACQUA ALTA

Flavia Petrelli, reigning diva of La Scala, had attacked the men with a speed born out of anger and surprise. She had routed the strangers from her beautiful home on the top floor of a fourteenth-century Venetian palazzo. But she had been unable to save her lover, Brett Lynch, from a terrible beating at their hands.

THE ANONYMOUS VENETIAN

Commissario Brunetti's hopes of a refreshing family holiday in the mountains are once again dashed when a gruesome discovery is made in Marghera - a body so badly beaten the face is unrecognizable. Brunetti searches Venice for someone who can identify the dead man. But he is met with a wall of silence. Then he receives a telephone call from a contact who promises some intriguing information. And before the night is out Brunetti is confronting yet another appalling and apparently senseless death . . .

BEASTLY THINGS

When a body is found floating in a canal, strangely disfigured and with multiple stab wounds, Commissario Brunetti is called to investigate and is convinced he recognises the man from somewhere. However, with no identification except for the distinctive shoes the man was wearing, and no reports of people missing from the Venice area, the case cannot progress. Brunetti soon realises why he remembers the dead man, and asks Signorina Elettra if she can help him find footage of a farmers' protest the previous autumn. But what was his involvement with the protest, and what does it have to do with his murder? Acting on the fragile lead, Brunetti and Inspector Vianello set out to uncover the man's identity. Their investigation eventually takes them to a slaughterhouse on the mainland, where they discover the origin of the crime, and the world of blackmail and corruption that surrounds it.

BY ITS COVER

When several valuable antiquarian books go missing from a prestigious library in the heart of Venice, Commissario Brunetti is immediately called to the scene. The staff suspect an American researcher has stolen them, but for Brunetti something doesn't quite add up. Taking on the case, the Commissario begins to seek information about some of the library's regulars, such as the ex-priest Franchini, a passionate reader of ancient Christian literature, and Contessa Morosini-Albani, the library's chief donor, and comes to the conclusion that the thief could not have acted alone. However, when Franchini is found murdered in his home, the case takes a more sinister turn and soon Brunetti finds himself submerged in the dark secrets of the black market of antiquarian books. Alongside his ever-faithful team of Ispettore Vianello and Signorina Elettra, he delves into the pages of Franchini's past and into the mind of a book thief in order to uncover the terrible truth.

DEATH AT LA FENICE

Commissario Guido Brunetti investigates the death of a world-renowned conductor after he is murdered during the interval at a performance of La Traviata. The list of suspects is large and Brunetti’s task is to whittle it down to one.

THE DEATH OF FAITH

The Commissario's visitor is a nun who has left her convent after the deaths of five patients. By asking him to investigate, has she put her life in danger?

DOCTORED EVIDENCE

An old woman is brutally murdered and her Romanian maid is the prime suspect. The maid is killed whilst running away and a large sum of money is found on her body - case closed. But after hearing other evidence Brunetti decides to investigate further - unofficially!

DRAWING CONCLUSIONS

A young woman returns from holiday to find her elderly neighbour dead on the floor. A heart attack seems the likely cause, but Commissario Brunetti is not so sure and decides to take a closer look. Soon he discovers that she was part of an organization that cares for abused women and that her apartment was a safe-house. Convinced that this is the lead he has been looking for, Brunetti begins his search for answers. But as he sets out to discover the truth behind her death, he is drawn into a decades-old story of lies and deceit that has blighted love and ruined lives - and has claimed this innocent woman as its newest victim. Brunetti's investigation takes him deep into the dark heart of his beloved Venice.

EARTHLY REMAINS

During the interrogation of an entitled, arrogant man suspected of giving drugs to a young girl who then died, Commissario Guido Brunetti acts rashly, doing something he will quickly come to regret. In the aftermath, he begins to doubt his career choices and realises that he needs a break from the stifling problems of his work. Granted leave from the Questura, Brunetti is shipped off by his wife, Paola, to a villa owned by a wealthy relative on Sant'Erasmo, one of the largest islands in the Venetian laguna. There he intends to pass his days rowing, and his nights reading Pliny's Natural History. The recuperative stay goes according to plan and Brunetti is finally able to relax, until Davide Casati, the caretaker of the house, goes missing following a sudden storm. Nobody can find him - not his daughter, not his friends, and not the woman he'd been secretly visiting. Now, Brunetti feels compelled to investigate, to set aside his holiday and discover what happened to the man who had recently become his friend.

FALLING IN LOVE

In Death at La Fenice, Donna Leon's first novel in the Commissario Brunetti series, readers were introduced to the glamorous and cut-throat world of opera and to one of Italy's finest living sopranos, Flavia Petrelli - then a suspect in the poisoning of a renowned German conductor. Now, many years after Brunetti cleared her name, Flavia has returned to the illustrious La Fenice to sing the lead in Tosca. As an opera superstar, Flavia is well acquainted with attention from adoring fans and aspiring singers. But when one anonymous admirer inundates her with bouquets of yellow roses - on stage, in her dressing room and even inside her locked apartment - it becomes clear that this fan has become a potentially dangerous stalker. Distraught, Flavia turns to an old friend for help. Familiar with Flavia's melodramatic temperament, Commissario Brunetti is at first unperturbed by her story, but when another young opera singer is attacked he begins to think Flavia's fears may be justified. In order to keep his friend out of danger, Brunetti must enter the psyche of an obsessive fan and find the culprit before anyone comes to harm.

FATAL REMEDIES

When Commissario Brunetti is called to a crime scene, he doesn't expect the culprit to be his wife. She has deliberately thrown a rock through a travel agent's window, but why?

FRIENDS IN HIGH PLACES

Commissario Brunetti is plunged into a world of corruption and intrigue when he investigates the death of a young bureaucrat in the Venetian planning department.

THE GIRL OF HIS DREAMS

When Commissario Brunetti and Ispettore Vianello answer a 911 call they find a dead girl floating in the canal. Amazingly no-one has reported a missing child. Brunetti is drawn into a search for her identity, her family and the cause of her death, taking him from the canals and palazzos of Venice to a gypsy encampment on the mainland.

GIVE UNTO OTHERS

The gifted Venetian detective returns in his 31st case - this time, investigating the Janus-faced nature of yet another Italian institution. Brunetti will have to once again face the blurred line that runs between the criminal and the non-criminal, bending police rules, and his own character, to help an acquaintance in danger.

THE GOLDEN EGG

When making routine enquiries into a possible bribery case that could embarrass the mayor - a humiliation Vice-Questore Patta is very keen to avoid - Commissario Brunetti receives a call from his wife, Paola, who is evidently very upset. The middle-aged deaf mute with the mental age of a child who helped out at the Brunetti's dry cleaners has been found dead - an 'accidental' overdose of his mother's sleeping pills - and for some reason Paola is distraught by the news. To the neighbourhood he was just the 'boy' who helped out, but nobody knew much about him - not even his name. That a soul could have lived such a joyless life is too much for Paola to bear, and she asks Guido if he can find out what happened. It is a surprise to Brunetti just how little was known about this man-child - there are no official records to show he even existed. The man's mother is angry and contradictory when questioned about his death, and Brunetti senses that there much more to the story than she is willing to tell. With the help of Inspector Vianello and the ever-resourceful Signorina Elettra, perhaps Brunetti can get to the truth and find some measure of solace.

A NOBLE RADIANCE

An unrecogniseable body is unearthed in the grounds of a deserted farmhouse in the Dolomites. A valuable signet ring found nearby leads Commissario Guido Brunetti to the heart of aristocratic Venice and a family still grieving for their missing son.

A QUESTION OF BELIEF

As Venice experiences a heatwave, Commissario Brunetti plans to escape the city to spend time with his family in the mountains. For Ispettore Vianello, however, the weather is the last thing on his mind, it appears his aunt has become obsessed with horoscopes and has been withdrawing large amounts of money from the family business.

A SEA OF TROUBLES

Commissario Brunetti is asked to investigate the murder of two clam fisherman on Pellestrina in the Venetian lagoon. Unable to penetrate the close-knit community, Signorina Elettra volunteers to visit relatives on the island. Brunetti is torn between the need to solve the murders and concern for Elettra's safety.

SO SHALL YOU REAP

On a cold November evening, Guido Brunetti and Paola are up late when a call from his colleague Ispettore Vianello arrives, alerting the Commissario that a hand has been seen in one of Venice's canals. The body is soon found, and Brunetti is assigned to investigate the murder of an undocumented Sri Lankan immigrant. Because no official record of the man's presence in Venice exists, Brunetti is forced to use the city's far richer sources of information: gossip and the memories of people who knew the victim. Curiously, he had been living in a garden house on the grounds of a palazzo owned by a university professor, in which Brunetti discovers books revealing the victim's interest in Buddhism, the revolutionary Tamil Tigers, and the last crop of Italian political terrorists, active in the 1980s. As the investigation expands, Brunetti, Vianello, Commissario Griffoni, and Signorina Elettra each assemble pieces of a puzzle-random information about real estate and land use, books, university friendships-that appear to have little in common. Until Brunetti stumbles over something that transports him back to his own student days, causing him to reflect on lost ideals and the errors of youth, on Italian politics and history, and on the accidents that sometimes lead to revelation.

SUFFER THE LITTLE CHILDREN

When Commissario Brunetti is summoned to the hospital bedside of a senior paediatrician whose skull has been brutally fractured by intruders to his apartment, he is confronted with more questions than answers. Brunetti begins to uncover a story of infertility, desperation, and an underworld where babies can be bought for cash - linked with a money-making scam between pharmacists and doctors in the city.

THE TEMPTATION OF FORGIVENESS

When important information is leaked from inside the Venetian Questura, Commissario Guido Brunetti is entrusted with the task of uncovering which of his colleagues is responsible. But before Brunetti can begin his investigation, he is surprised by the appearance in his office of a friend of his wife's, who is fearful that her son is using drugs. A few weeks later, Tullio Gasparini, the woman's husband, is found unconscious with a serious head injury at the foot of a bridge, and Brunetti is drawn to pursue a possible connection to the boy's behaviour. But the truth is not straightforward. Following various contradictory leads, Brunetti navigates his way through a world of mysterious informants, underground deals and secret longstanding scam networks, all the while growing ever more impressed by the intuition of his fellow Commissario, Claudia Griffoni, and by the endless resourcefulness of Signorina Elettra, Vice-Questore Patta's secretary and gate-keeper. With Gasparini's condition showing no signs of improvement, and his investigations leading nowhere, Brunetti is steadied by the embrace of his own family and by his passion for the classics. He turns to Sophocles's Antigone in an attempt to understand the true purpose of justice, and, in its light, he is forced to consider the terrible consequences to which the actions of a tender heart can lead.

THROUGH A GLASS DARKLY

A luminous spring day in Venice, and Commissario Brunetti and his sidekick Vianello play hooky from the Questura along the Grand Canal to rescue Vianello's friend Marco, who has been arrested during an environmental protest. They get him released, only to be faced by the fury of the man's father-in-law, who owns a glass factory on Murano. The old man is seething with rage, and his daughter shares her fear with Brunetti that he will actually hurt her husband. But it is not Marco who has uncovered the guilty secret of the glass foundries, nor he whose body is found lying in front of the furnaces which burn at 1400 degrees C. night and day. The victim has left clues in a copy of Dante and Brunetti must enter an inferno to discover who is burning the land and fouling the waters of Venice's lagoon. A man is dead - but will politics and expedience prevent the killer from striking again?

TRACE ELEMENTS

When Dottoressa Donato calls the Questura to report that a dying patient at the hospice Fatebenefratelli wants to speak to the police, Commissario Guido Brunetti and his colleague, Claudia Griffoni, waste no time in responding. 'They killed him. It was bad money. I told him no', Benedetta Toso gasps the words about her recently-deceased husband, Vittorio Fadalto. Even though he is not sure she can hear him Brunetti softly promises he and Griffoni will look into what initially appears to be a private family tragedy. They discover that Fadalto worked in the field collecting samples of contamination for a company that measures the cleanliness of Venice's water supply and that he had died in a mysterious motorcycle accident. Distracted briefly by Vice Questore Patta's obsession with youth crime in Venice, Brunetti is bolstered once more by the remarkable research skills of Patta's secretary, Signora Elettra Zorzi. Piecing together the tangled threads, in time Brunetti comes to realize the perilous meaning in the woman's accusation and the threat it reveals to the health of the entire region. But justice in this case proves to be ambiguous, as Brunetti is reminded it can be when, seeking solace, he reads Aeschylus's classic play The Eumenides.

TRANSIENT DESIRES

In his many years as a Commissario Guido Brunetti has seen all manner of crime and knows intuitively how to navigate the various pathways in his native Venice to discover the person responsible. Now in the thirtieth novel in Donna Leon's masterful series he faces a heinous crime committed outside his jurisdiction. He is drawn in innocently enough: two young American women have been badly injured in a boating accident joy riding in the Laguna with two young Italians. However Brunetti's curiosity is aroused by the behaviour of the young men who abandoned the victims after taking them to the hospital. If the injuries were the result of an accident why did they want to avoid association with it? As Brunetti and his colleague Claudia Griffoni investigate the incident they discover that one of the young men works for a man rumoured to be involved in more sinister night-time activities in the Laguna. To get to the bottom of what proves to be a gut-wrenching case Brunetti needs to enlist the help of both the Carabinieri and the Guardia di Costiera. Determining how much trust he and Griffoni can put in these unfamiliar colleagues adds to the difficulty of solving a peculiarly horrible crime whose perpetrators are technologically brilliant and ruthlessly organised. This novel is as powerful as any Leon has written, testing Brunetti to his limits forcing him to listen very carefully for the truth.

UNIFORM JUSTICE

A young army cadet is found hanged, a presumed suicide, but Commissario is less sure. As he delves deeper he is faced by a wall of silence. Is this the natural reluctance of Italians to speak to authority or is it a conspiracy?

UNTO US A SON IS GIVEN

As a favour to his wealthy father-in-law, the Count Falier, Commissario Guido Brunetti agrees to investigate the seemingly innocent wish of the Count's best friend, the elderly and childless Gonzalo, to adopt a younger man as his son. Under Italian inheritance laws, this man would become the sole heir to Gonzalo's substantial fortune, something which Gonzalo's friends, including the Count, find appalling. For his part, Brunetti wonders why they're so intent on meddling in the old man's business. Not long after Brunetti meets with Gonzalo, the elderly man unexpectedly passes away from natural causes. Old and frail, Gonzalo's death goes unquestioned, and a few of his oldest friends gather in Venice to plan the memorial service. But when Berta, a striking woman and one of Gonzalo's closest confidantes, is strangled in her hotel room, Brunetti is drawn into long-buried secrets from Gonzalo's past. What did Berta know? And who would go to such lengths to ensure it would remain hidden?

A VENETIAN RECKONING

Commissario Guido Brunetti digs deep into the secret lives of the once great and good, and in a seedy Venetian bar uncovers an evil crime network reaching far beyond the laguna. But it will take another violent death in Venice before the forces of justice can even begin to proceed . . .

THE WATERS OF ETERNAL YOUTH

Brunetti is investigating a cold case by request of the grand Contessa Lando-Continui, a friend of Brunetti's mother-in-law. Fifteen years ago the Contessa's teenage granddaughter, Manuela, was found drowning in a canal. She was rescued from the canal at the last moment, but in many ways it was too late; she suffered severe brain damage and her life was never the same again. Once a passionate horse rider, Manuela, now aged thirty, cannot remember the accident, or her beloved horse, and lives trapped in an eternal youth. The Contessa, unconvinced that this was an accident, implores Brunetti to find the culprit she believes was responsible for ruining Manuela's life. Out of a mixture of curiosity, pity and a willingness to fulfil the wishes of a loving grandmother, Brunetti reopens the case. But once he starts to investigate, Brunetti finds a murky past and a dark story at its heart.

WILFUL BEHAVIOUR

Brunetti is intrigued when a young student visits to ask about the possibility of a pardon for her grandfather, for a crime committed long ago. When she is found murdered he finds himself confronting secrets hidden since World War 2.