»In the hands of great authors, characters are like real people, merely realer«, Donna Leon once said. Perhaps this is why her life is so rich in characters and people accompanying her, both real and fictional.

Backstage presents a colorful troupe: the rock genius Frank Zappa, Veniceʼs most famous diamond dealer, a courageous sex worker and womenʼs rights activist, a clever composer, tragic heroes and admired colleagues. In the hands of Donna Leon, these encounters turn into sparkling jewels. A treasure trove of delightful discoveries.

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 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.

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. 

An elderly woman’s cryptic dying words in a Venetian hospital lead Guido Brunetti to uncover a threat to the entire Veneto in Donna Leon’s splendid twenty-ninth novel of the world famous Brunetti series.

Why did the water distribution technician Vittorio Fadalto die? Was it an accident or did he know too much?

»They killed him . . . Bad money,« are the sibylline words the patient Benedetta Tosi manages to tell her visitors about her recenly deceased husband. Although the dying woman probably can’t hear him, Brunetti promises to look into her cryptic accusation. What starts as a private tragedy develops into a larger case. Brunetti does not rest until he and his colleagues unravel the profound and perilous meaning of the dying woman’s words.

Leon gives us a rare insight into the human heart, and together with her endearing characters uncovers new and unforgettable facets of the human condition.

Donna Leon has led an adventurous life, and with her tell-tale knack for observation, she turns her experiences in America, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Italy (of course) and Switzerland into a captivating read. She takes us on a journey around the world, from growing up on a farm, to curfew pajama parties in Iran, financial straits, and a Fiat 600. And we join Donna as she arrives in Italy as a chaperone, as she hunts for the perfect cappuccino, and as she encounters small marvels in the mountains.

»There is no worse crime than not having loved.«
Donna Leon

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.

Commissario Brunetti faces a heinous crime committed outside his jurisdiction: two young American women have been badly injured in a boating accident, joy riding in the Laguna with two young Italians. 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. The presence of these unfamiliar colleagues adds to the difficulty of solving a peculiarly horrible crime whose perpetrators are technologically brilliant and ruthlessly organized.

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.

Donna Leon’s public is getting larger and larger and Brunetti’s focus as well: While leaving the alleys of Venice behind, Brunetti discovers a big crime in the laguna.

A cosy and yet very uncosy novel.

During an interrogation of an entitled, arrogant man Brunetti acts rashly, doing something he will quickly come to regret. In the fallout, he realizes that he needs a break, needs to get away from the stifling problems of his work.

When Brunetti is granted leave from the Questura, his wife Paola ships him off to a villa owned by a wealthy relative on Sant’Erasmo, one of the largest islands in the laguna. There he intends to pass his days rowing, and his nights reading. But when a new friend goes missing, Brunetti feels compelled to investigate, to try to better understand the man and to piece together the puzzle of his life.

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...

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.

Fifteen years ago, a teenage girl fell into a canal late at night. Unable to swim, she went under and started to drown. She survived thanks to a nearby man, an alcoholic, who pulled her out, though not before she suffered irreparable brain damage that left her unable to learn or mature. The lush claimed he saw her thrown into the canal by another man, but the following day he could not remember a thing. Now, at a fundraising dinner for a Venetian charity, a wealthy and aristocratic patroness – the girl’s grandmother – asks Brunetti if he will investigate. Brunetti is not sure what to do. If a crime was committed, it would surely have passed the statute of limitations. But out of a mixture of curiosity, pity, and a willingness to fulfill the wishes of a guilt-wracked older woman, who happens to be his mother-in-law’s best friend, he agrees. Brunetti soon finds himself unable to let the case rest, if indeed there is a case. Awash in the rhythms and concerns of contemporary Venetian life, from historical preservation, to housing, to new waves of African migrants, and the haunting story of a woman trapped in a perpetual childhood, The Waters of Eternal Youth is another wonderful addition to this series.

In Death at La Fenice, the first novel in her beloved series, Donna Leon introduced readers to the glamorous and cutthroat world of opera and one of Italy’s finest living sopranos, Flavia Petrelli. Now, in Falling in Love, Flavia has returned to Venice to sing the lead in Tosca. One night after a performance, Flavia finds her dressing room full of yellow roses—too many roses. An anonymous fan has been showering Flavia with gifts in London, St. Petersburg, Amsterdam, and now, Venice. Flavia confesses to Brunetti her alarm at these excessive displays of adoration, and when a talented young Venetian singer who has caught Flavia’s attention is savagely attacked, Brunetti begins to think that Flavia’s fears are justified in ways neither of them imagined. He must enter in the psyche of an obsessive fan before Flavia, or anyone else, comes to harm.

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. When a death occurs, the case takes a more sinister turn and soon Brunetti finds himself submerged in the dark secrets of the black market of antiquarian books.