Synopses & Reviews
When Brett Lynch, an American archaeologist, is savagely beaten by two well-dressed men on the doorstep of her Venice flat, few besides Brunetti are outraged. Lynch is, after all, a foreigner and a lesbian to boot. But all Venice is galvanized when, two days later, Dottor Semenzato, a prestigious museum curator, is murdered. Brunetti quickly makes the connection between Lynch's attack and Semenzato's killing both had worked on a celebrated exhibition of Chinese antiquities. The policeman's investigation opens onto the moral sinkhole in which Venice's upper class clandestinely wallows when he discovers that Semenzato had been peddling artifacts from the Chinese exhibition. Lynch has learned of his misdeeds too and of chicanery in high places half a world away. Even a record-breaking acqua alta will not deter the killers from getting her murder right the second time. Can Brunetti?
Synopsis
Donna Leon's growing American fan base is hungry for more of the books from her internationally bestselling series featuring Commissario Guido Brunetti. Now in what many consider one of the finest in the series, Venice braces for the onslaught of acqua alta-the rising waters from torrential rain. But Brunetti has his own problems, beginning with the savage beating of an old friend. When a man's body is discovered, Brunetti must wade through the chaos to solve one of his deadliest cases. Full of marvelous plot twists, Acqua Alta is a chilling addition to Donna Leon's addictive series.
Synopsis
The twenty-first Commissario Brunetti mystery and Donna Leonandrsquo;s biggest New York Times bestseller yet Itandrsquo;s no wonder that Donna Leonandrsquo;s latest mystery debuted on the New York Times bestseller list at number ten. The seriesandrsquo;s tantalizing crimes, Venetian setting, and much-loved commissario are a winning combination that continues to earn critical acclaim and a growing readership around the globe.and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; In Beastly Things, Leon lives up to her reputation as a writer unafraid to address the corruption underlying La Serenissimaandrsquo;s outward beauty. When an unidentified murder victim winds up in a canal, Brunetti travels beyond his usual sphere to find the connection between the dead man and a local slaughterhouse.
Synopsis
The twenty-first Commissario Brunetti mystery and Donna Leonandrsquo;s biggest New York Times bestseller yet Itandrsquo;s no wonder that Donna Leonandrsquo;s latest mystery debuted on the New York Times bestseller list at number ten. The seriesandrsquo;s tantalizing crimes, Venetian setting, and much-loved commissario are a winning combination that continues to earn critical acclaim and a growing readership around the globe.and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; In Beastly Things, Leon lives up to her reputation as a writer unafraid to address the corruption underlying La Serenissimaandrsquo;s outward beauty. When an unidentified murder victim winds up in a canal, Brunetti travels beyond his usual sphere to find the connection between the dead man and a local slaughterhouse.
About the Author
A New Yorker of Irish/Spanish descent, Donna Leon first went to Italy in 1965, returning regularly over the next decade or so while pursuing a career as an academic in the States and then later in Iran, China and finally Saudi Arabia. It was after a period in Saudi Arabia, which she found ‘damaging physically and spiritually’ that Donna decided to move to Venice, where she has now lived for over twenty years.
Her debut as a crime fiction writer began as a joke: talking in a dressing room in Venice’s opera-house La Fenice after a performance, Donna and a singer friend were vilifying a particular German conductor. From the thought ‘why don’t we kill him?’ and discussion of when, where and how, the idea for Death at La Fenice took shape, and was completed over the next four months.
Donna Leon is the crime reviewer for the London Sunday Times and is an opera expert. She has written the libretto for a comic opera, entitled Dona Gallina. Set in a chicken coop, and making use of existing baroque music, Donna Gallina was premiered in Innsbruck. Brigitte Fassbaender, one of the great mezzo-sopranos of our time, and now head of the Landestheater in Innsbruck, agreed to come out of retirement both to direct the opera and to play the part of the witch Azuneris (whose name combines the names of the two great Verdi villainesses Azucena and Amneris).