As Venice braces for a winter tempest, Commissario Guido Brunetti, Donna Leon's intrepid Italian sleuth, finds out that an old friend has been savagely beaten at the palazzo home of reigning diva Flavia Petreli. Then, as the flood waters rise, a corpse is discovered - and Brunetti must wade through the chaotic city to solve his deadliest case yet.
Sinister and exotic, Acqua Alta is another chilling addition to Donna Leon's bestselling series.

Shards of glass lay across Piazza San Marco. Two ›baby gangs‹ have clashed violently in the darkness. While Commissario Griffoni relies on her intuition to find out how a teenager can get caught up in a flash mob, Brunetti uses his own connections. Even Vice-Questore Patta is willing to do whatever it takes to protect himself and his surroundings from any violence – which is especially unwelcome in a tourist city like Venice.

On a cold, grey November morning, sixteen-year-old Ernesto Moro is found hanged in the washroom of the San Martino cadet academy. Why would such a young person commit suicide, seemingly without reason? Or has there been a cover-up – in order to protect someone's reputation? The police investigation comes up against a wall of silence: the ranks have closed. Nobody – not the teachers, nor the well-drilled cadets, not even the boy's family – seems interested in finding out more precise details. But Brunetti will not let go the case of this young man, whose father is renowned for his political integrity. As a father himself, Brunetti will not rest until he has discovered what is behind the incident. Elites and their loyalties – Donna Leon plumbs the depths of the secret channels running between military and political power.

In the 27th novel in Donna Leon’s bestselling mystery series, a suspicious accident leads Commissario Guido Brunetti to uncover a longstanding scam with disturbing unintended consequences.

When a friend of Brunetti’s wife’s, fearful that her son is using drugs and hopeful that he can somehow intervene, comes to the Questura, Brunetti tries to calm her down. But when the woman’s husband, Tullio Gasparini, is found unconscious and with a serious brain injury at the foot of a bridge after midnights, Brunetti is drawn to pursue a possible connection to the boy’s behaviour. Yet the truth is never straightforward.

Exasperated by the petty bureaucracy, Brunetti is steadied by the embrace of his own family and by his passion for the classics. This predilection leads him to read Sophocles’ Antigone, and, in its light, consider the terrible consequences to which the actions of a tender heart can lead.

Really, Brunetti had intended to go to the mountains with his family instead of spending August under the scorching Venetian sun. But then the body of a man in female clothing is found by the slaughterhouse near Mestre. A transvestite? He'll have had a quarrel with one of his »customers«, is the generally held opinion, even among some members of the police force. But Brunetti, as honest and upright as it is possible to be in Italy, takes a closer look. Was the dead man really part of the transvestite and prostitution scene? During his investigations in a milieu which is probably relatively unknown among most readers and thus all the more exciting, the Commissario learns to be less hasty with his judgements than most average, upright citizens, and he becomes increasingly suspicious about the true activities of the allegedly worthy institution known as the Lega della Moralità. In this book, Donna Leon exposes a particularly spectacular case of double moral standards and some highly topical instances of political corruption. Rarely have sex and crime been linked with such seemingly impeccable morality. A brilliant, elegantly written detective novel with a highly ingenious plot and a compelling atmosphere.

On a cold November evening, Guido Brunetti and Paola are up late when a call from Ispettore Vianello arrives, alerting the Commissario that a hand has been spotted in one of Venice’s canals. The body is quickly recovered and the victim’s identity discovered by sheer coincidence. But who could the dead man’s enemies have been? He was undocumented, leaving Brunetti and his colleagues with no leads to chase up. It’s only when the Commissario delves into his own past, recalling the Italy of his student days, that a solution to the case starts to emerge.

Commissario Brunetti does not have much to do when his boss is on a holiday, and Venice is just waking up from its winter sleep. But then the machinations of the church begin to cast their shadow over his professional and private life. Suor Immacolata, the beautiful, self-sacrificing Sicilian nun who looked after his mother has left her religious order with a terrible suspicion after the unexpected deaths of five patients. Brunetti makes enquries in the churches and hospitals, looks for the dead people's heirs, and soon finds himself in a labyrinth of religous faith and hypocrisy. He encounters a colourful motley of people, but he cannot find a convincing suspect. Fortunately, Brunetti's network of informers and his wealth of ideas are almost as effective as the influence of the church...

The murder of two clam fishermen off the island of Pellestrina south of the Lido on the Venetian lagoon, draws Commissario Brunetti into the island's close-knit community, bound together by a code of loyalty and a suspicion of outsiders worthy of the Mafia. When the Questore's secretary Signorina Elettra volunteers to visit the island, where she has relatives, Brunetti finds himself torn between his duty to solve the murders, concerns for Elettra's safety, and his not entirely straightforward feelings for her…

When Maria Grazia Battestini, as wealthy as she is bad-tempered, is discovered brutally murdered in her apartment, there are no friends or family who come to mourn her. Her housekeeper, who has disappeared, rapidly becomes the prime murder suspect; she is arrested while trying to return to Romania, and in her attempt to escape custody is hit by a train. She had been carrying a large sum of money and false papers – an open-and-shut case for Tenente Scarpa, who is standing in for Brunetti during the latter's vacation. His superior, Patta, is also pleased that the case can be filed away so promptly. Brunetti, however, is not so sure. Having returned from Ireland, he begins an unrelenting search for the true perpetrators of the crime. But no matter how he puts the pieces of the puzzle together, they refuse to form a complete picture. Until Paola reminds him of the Bible and the seven deadly sins, which have today all but been forgotten. With the help of Vianello and Elettra, and ignoring all of the rash conclusions which have been previously drawn, he unearths the secret motives that led to the old lady's death.

Early one morning Guido Brunetti, Commissario of the Venice Police, confronts a grisly sight when the body of a young man is fished out of a fetid Venetian canal. All the clues point to a violent mugging, but for Brunetti the robbery motive seems altogether too convenient. Then something very incriminating is discovered in the dead man's flat, something which points to the existence of a high level cabal - and Brunetti becomes convinced that somebody, somewhere, is taking great pains to provide a ready-made solution to the crime.

Elisabetta Foscarini, a childhood friend of Brunetti’s and still a beautiful woman, turns up at the Questura one day and asks Brunetti for a favour. Could he look into who is threatening her daughter’s family? However, so far there is little concrete evidence of any wrongdoing: who could possibly wish harm on a vet and an accountant who works for a charity? Brunetti is about to dismiss the whole thing as exaggerated maternal anxiety when there’s an attack, and the case takes a very dark turn. It has never been more difficult to bring the true criminal to account. 

The twisted maze of Venice's canals has always been shrouded in mystery. Even the celebrated opera house, La Fenice, has seen its share of death. But nothing so horrific and violent as that of world-famous conductor, Maestro Helmut Wellauer - poisoned during a performance of ›La Traviata‹. Even Commissario of Police Guido Brunetti, used to the labyrinthine corruptions of the city, is shocked at the number of enemies Wellauer has made on his way to the top - but just how many have motive enough for murder?

When a bloated corpse is found in the canal one early morning, an elegant leather shoe is the only clue Commissario Guido Brunetti has. That and his own memory: Even though the dead man's eyes are closed, the Commissario is convinced he knows their colour from somewhere. But from where? The dead man has a bull neck, a medical condition reportedly caused by a rare illness. But despite his gruesome appearance, he had a gentle soul, as Brunetti and Vianello discover in the course of their investigations. A case that leads them into the bowels of Venice, to Mestre. Family life, strolls and regular visits to the local bars and cafes – Brunetti needs all of this more than ever, while he is solving this upsetting case.

Unto Us a Son Is Given is a delicate matter that calls for all of Brunetti’s tact and precision.

Venice: city of wealth – and of greed . . . Gonzalo Rodríguez de Tejeda – originally from Spain – has made a fortune as an art dealer. Now he is spending his sunset years in Venice. And then? Should his conservative family, who never approved of his permissive lifestyle, inherit his treasures? Or who is his chosen heir? Commissario Brunetti’s father-in-law has a strong sense of foreboding and asks the Commissario for help – plunging Brunetti into the depths of the human heart.

While making routine inquiries into a possible bribery case, Commissario Brunetti receives a call from his wife, Paola. The deaf-mute man who worked at the Brunettis' dry cleaners has been found dead. An empty bottle of pills points to suicide, but Paola is unconvinced. To the neighbourhood he was the ›boy‹ who helped out, but nobody knew even his name. That a soul could have lived such a lonely life is too much for Paola to bear. She begs her husband to do something, anything...