How to read Donna Leon’s books in order
How to read Donna Leon’s books in order
Donna Leon is an American author known for her crime fiction set in Venice, Italy. Most of her work is a part of the Guido Brunetti book series, a collection of police procedure novels following the investigations of Commissario Brunetti, the titular character and the suave protagonist taking on some of the most vicious criminals the floating city has ever seen.
Leon’s work is famous not only for her attention to detail and suspenseful storylines but also for her depiction of Venice as a living, breathing city that comes alive on every page. Her work, published in English, has sold millions of copies and has been translated into multiple languages, including German, Spanish, and French, but curiously, not Italian.
Guido Brunetti series order
The Brunetti series features some thirty novels, and it’s still ongoing. You can jump in and read any novel that catches your attention first, but reading the books as they came out is still recommended, as such an approach offers better insight into Leon’s character and writing technique development.
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Death at La Fenice
- By: Donna Leon
- Length: 9 hours 34 minutes
- Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
- Publish date: July 19, 2022
- Language: English
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3.88(21450 ratings)
3.88(21450 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0019.99 USDThere is little violent crime in Venice, a serenely beautiful floating city of mystery and magic, history and decay. But the evil that does occasionally rear its head is the jurisdiction of Guido Brunetti, the suave, urbane vice-commissario ofThere is little violent crime in Venice, a serenely beautiful floating city of mystery and magic, history and decay. But the evil that does occasionally rear its head is the jurisdiction of Guido Brunetti, the suave, urbane vice-commissario of police
and a genius at detection. Now all of his admirable abilities must come into play in the deadly affair of Maestro Helmut Wellauer, a world-renowned conductor who died painfully from cyanide poisoning during an intermission at La Fenice.But as the investigation unfolds, a chilling picture slowly begins to take shape–a detailed portrait of revenge painted with vivid strokes of hatred and shocking depravity. And the dilemma for Guido Brunetti will not be finding a murder suspect, but rather narrowing the choices down to one …
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Death in a Strange Country
- By: Donna Leon
- Narrator: Donna Leon
- Length: 10 hours 41 minutes
- Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
- Publish date: April 13, 2018
- Language: English
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3.93(10224 ratings)
3.93(10224 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0024.99 USDEarly one morning Commissario Guido Brunetti of the Venice Police confronts a grisly sight when the body of a young man is fished out of a fetid canal. All the clues point to a violent mugging, but for Brunetti the motive of robbery seems altogetherEarly one morning Commissario Guido Brunetti of the Venice Police confronts a grisly sight when the body of a young man is fished out of a fetid canal. All the clues point to a violent mugging, but for Brunetti the motive of robbery seems altogether too convenient. When something is discovered in the victim’s apartment that suggests the existence of a high-level conspiracy, Brunetti becomes convinced that somebody is taking great pains to provide a ready-made solution to the crime. Rich with atmosphere and marvelous plotting, Death in a Strange Country is a superb novel in Donna Leon’s chilling Venetian mystery series.
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Dressed for Death
- By: Donna Leon
- Narrator: David Colacci
- Length: 9 hours 48 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2009
- Language: English
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3.92(9932 ratings)
3.92(9932 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0021.95 USDCommissario Guido Brunetti’s hopes for 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 completely unrecognizable. Brunetti searchesCommissario Guido Brunetti’s hopes for 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 completely unrecognizable. Brunetti searches Venice for someone who can identify the corpse but is met with a wall of silence. He then receives a telephone call from a contact who promises some tantalizing information. And before night is out, Brunetti is confronting yet another appalling, and apparently senseless, death.
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Death and Judgment
- By: Donna Leon
- Narrator: David Colacci
- Length: 9 hours 15 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2009
- Language: English
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3.92(6474 ratings)
3.92(6474 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0025.95 USDA truck crashes and spills its dangerous cargo on a treacherous road in the Italian Dolomite mountains. Meanwhile, in Santa Lucia, a prominent international lawyer is found dead aboard an intercity train. Suspecting a connection between the twoA truck crashes and spills its dangerous cargo on a treacherous road in the Italian Dolomite mountains. Meanwhile, in Santa Lucia, a prominent international lawyer is found dead aboard an intercity train.
Suspecting a connection between the two tragedies, Brunetti digs deep for an answer, stumbling upon a seedy Venetian bar that holds the key to a crime network that reaches far beyond the laguna. But it will take another violent death in Venice before Brunetti and his colleagues begin to understand what is really going on.
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Acqua Alta
- By: Donna Leon
- Narrator: Donna Leon
- Length: 10 hours 18 minutes
- Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
- Publish date: May 18, 2018
- Language: English
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3.98(10779 ratings)
3.98(10779 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0024.99 USDIn Leon’s fifth Commissario Guido Brunetti mystery, the beating of renowned art historian Dotoressa Brett Lynch draws the contemporary Venetian police detective out of his warm and loving home and into the yearly onslaught of acqua alta, theIn Leon’s fifth Commissario Guido Brunetti mystery, the beating of renowned art historian Dotoressa Brett Lynch draws the contemporary Venetian police detective out of his warm and loving home and into the yearly onslaught of acqua alta, the torrential winter rains. Brett, an American who spearheaded a recent exhibition of Chinese pottery in Venice, lives with her lover, Flavia Petrelli, the reigning diva of La Scala. With his open mind and good sense, Brunetti finds himself more fazed by Flavia’s breathtaking talent than by the nontraditional relationship between the two women. Brunetti’s deliberate and humane investigation to uncover a motive for Brett’s beating takes him to dark, wet corners of Venice and into a sinister web of art theft, fakery and base human desires.
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Quietly In Their Sleep
- By: Donna Leon
- Narrator: Donna Leon
- Length: 9 hours 18 minutes
- Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
- Publish date: June 15, 2018
- Language: English
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3.94(5659 ratings)
3.94(5659 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0019.99 USDIn the sixth book featuring Donna Leon’s ever-charming and sympathetic protagonist, Commissario Guido Brunetti comes to the aid of a young nursing sister who has had five patients unexpectedly die and decides to leave her convent. In theIn the sixth book featuring Donna Leon’s ever-charming and sympathetic protagonist, Commissario Guido Brunetti comes to the aid of a young nursing sister who has had five patients unexpectedly die and decides to leave her convent. In the course of his inquiries, Brunetti encounters an unusual cast of characters but discovers nothing that seems criminal. Is the nun simply creating a smoke screen to justify abandoning her vocation? Or has she stumbled onto something very real and very sinister-something that places her own life in imminent danger? A beautiful, suspense-filled novel, Quietly in Their Sleep is Donna Leon at the top of her form.
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A Noble Radiance
- By: Donna Leon
- Narrator: Donna Leon
- Length: 8 hours 11 minutes
- Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
- Publish date: June 15, 2018
- Language: English
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4.03(7056 ratings)
4.03(7056 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0019.99 USDA macabre grave is found at the foot of the Italian Dolomites. The body is found to be Roberto Lorenzoni’s, only son and heir of one Venice’s oldest, most aristocratic families. Commissario Guido Brunetti must move in the highest circlesA macabre grave is found at the foot of the Italian Dolomites. The body is found to be Roberto Lorenzoni’s, only son and heir of one Venice’s oldest, most aristocratic families. Commissario Guido Brunetti must move in the highest circles of power and corruption to unravel the mystery behind the young man’s disappearance and murder.
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Fatal Remedies
- By: Donna Leon
- Narrator: David Colacci
- Length: 8 hours 8 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2012
- Language: English
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3.92(5951 ratings)
3.92(5951 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0021.95 USDIn Fatal Remedies, Brunetti’s career is under threat when his professional and personal lives unexpectedly intersect. In the chill of the Venetian dawn, a sudden act of vandalism shatters the quiet of the deserted city, and Brunetti is shockedIn Fatal Remedies, Brunetti’s career is under threat when his professional and personal lives unexpectedly intersect. In the chill of the Venetian dawn, a sudden act of vandalism shatters the quiet of the deserted city, and Brunetti is shocked to find that the culprit waiting to be apprehended at the scene is a member of his own family. Meanwhile, he is also under pressure from his superiors to solve a daring robbery with connections to a suspicious accidental death. Could the two crimes be connected? And will Brunetti be able to prove his family’s innocence before it’s too late?
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Friends in High Places
- By: Donna Leon
- Narrator: David Colacci
- Length: 8 hours 54 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2013
- Language: English
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3.88(7562 ratings)
3.88(7562 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0025.95 USDIn Friends in High Places, Commissario Guido Brunetti is visited by a young bureaucrat investigating the lack of approval for the building of Brunetti’s apartment years before. What began as a red tape headache ends in murder when theIn Friends in High Places, Commissario Guido Brunetti is visited by a young bureaucrat investigating the lack of approval for the building of Brunetti’s apartment years before. What began as a red tape headache ends in murder when the bureaucrat is later found dead after a mysterious fall from a scaffold. Brunetti starts an investigation that will take him into the unfamiliar and dangerous areas of drug abuse and loan-sharking, and will reveal, once again, what a difference it makes in Venice to have friends in high places.
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A Sea of Troubles
- By: Donna Leon
- Narrator: David Colacci
- Length: 8 hours 7 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2011
- Language: English
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3.93(5783 ratings)
3.93(5783 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0021.95 USDDona Leon has amassed devoted fans around the world for her atmospheric and intelligent Commissario Brunetti series. A Sea of Troubles offers a rare glimpse into the scrupulous Commissario’s personal life. When Brunetti investigates the murderDona Leon has amassed devoted fans around the world for her atmospheric and intelligent Commissario Brunetti series. A Sea of Troubles offers a rare glimpse into the scrupulous Commissario’s personal life. When Brunetti investigates the murder of two local fishermen on the island of Pellestrina, the small community closes ranks, forcing him to accept Signorina Elettra’s offer to visit her relatives there to search for clues. Though loyal to his beloved wife, Paola, he must admit that less-than-platonic emotions underlie his concern for his boss’s beautiful secretary. Suspenseful, provocative, and deeply unsettling, A Sea of Troubles is an explosive and irresistible addition to Leon’s marvelous series.
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Willful Behavior
- By: Donna Leon
- Narrator: Steven Crossley
- Length: 9 hours 1 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2011
- Language: English
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3.97(734 ratings)
3.97(734 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0025.95 USDMystery lovers everywhere are addicted to Donna Leon’s ever-honorable Commissario Guido Brunetti and her portrayal of Venice’s beautiful but sinister byways and canals. In Willful Behavior, Brunetti is approached for a favor by one ofMystery lovers everywhere are addicted to Donna Leon’s ever-honorable Commissario Guido Brunetti and her portrayal of Venice’s beautiful but sinister byways and canals.
In Willful Behavior, Brunetti is approached for a favor by one of his wife’s students. Intelligent and serious, Claudia Leonardo asks for his help in obtaining a pardon for a crime once committed by her now-dead grandfather. Brunetti thinks little of it–until Claudia is found dead. Soon, another corpse and an extraordinary art collection lead Brunetti to long-buried secrets of Nazi collaboration and the exploitation of Italian Jews–secrets few in Italy want revealed.
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Uniform Justice
- By: Donna Leon
- Narrator: David Colacci
- Length: 8 hours 7 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2007
- Language: English
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3.89(5840 ratings)
3.89(5840 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0021.95 USDWhen Venetian detective Commissario Guido Brunetti is called to investigate a presumed suicide in Venice’s elite military academy, his inquiries are immediately met with a wall of silence. The young man is the son of a doctor and formerWhen Venetian detective Commissario Guido Brunetti is called to investigate a presumed suicide in Venice’s elite military academy, his inquiries are immediately met with a wall of silence. The young man is the son of a doctor and former politician, a man of an impeccable integrity all too rare in Italian politics. Dr. Moro seems devastated by his son’s death; but while both he and his apparently estranged wife seem convinced that the boy would not have committed suicide, neither appears eager to talk to the police or to involve Brunetti in any kind of investigation into their son’s death. Is the silence that confronts Brunetti the natural reluctance of Italians to involve themselves with the authorities, or is he facing a conspiracy far greater than this one death?
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Doctored Evidence
- By: Donna Leon
- Narrator: David Colacci
- Length: 7 hours 44 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2007
- Language: English
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3.87(7217 ratings)
3.87(7217 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0021.95 USDInternationally acclaimed author Donna Leon has earned lavish accolades for her elegant Venetian mysteries featuring the irresistibly charming Commissario Brunetti. Now, following her magnificently received Uniform Justice, she presents her mostInternationally acclaimed author Donna Leon has earned lavish accolades for her elegant Venetian mysteries featuring the irresistibly charming Commissario Brunetti. Now, following her magnificently received Uniform Justice, she presents her most beguiling and thrilling mystery yet. Against the atmospheric backdrop of the city of Venice, Brunetti finds himself fighting a lone battle to prove the innocence of a Romanian housekeeper accused of brutally murdering her miserly employer. With the odds stacked against her from the onset of the investigation when she fled from police, her guilt seems a fait accompli … until a neighbor comes forward to protest the innocence of the accused. Stealthily working his way through the labyrinthine alleys of Venice, death nipping at his heels, Brunetti will have to defy his superiors to vindicate the housekeeper and stop her employer’s real killer before he murders again.
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Blood from a Stone
- By: Donna Leon
- Narrator: David Colacci
- Length: 9 hours 8 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2007
- Language: English
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3.9(5633 ratings)
3.9(5633 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0025.95 USDOn a cold Venetian night shortly before Christmas, a street vendor is killed in a scuffle in Campo San Stefano. The closest witnesses are the tourists who had been browsing the man’s wares before his death–fake handbags of every designerOn a cold Venetian night shortly before Christmas, a street vendor is killed in a scuffle in Campo San Stefano. The closest witnesses are the tourists who had been browsing the man’s wares before his death–fake handbags of every designer label. The dead man had been working as a vu cumpra, one of the many African immigrants purveying goods outside normal shop hours and without work permits. Commissario Brunetti’s response is that of everybody involved: Why would anyone kill an illegal immigrant? Once Brunetti begins to investigate this unfamiliar Venetian underworld, he discovers that matters of great value are at stake. Warned by Patta, his supervisor, to resist further involvement in the case, how far will Brunetti be able to penetrate the murky subculture of Venice’s illegal community?
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Through a Glass, Darkly
- By: Donna Leon
- Narrator: David Colacci
- Length: 8 hours 35 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2007
- Language: English
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3.86(5893 ratings)
3.86(5893 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0021.95 USDOn a spring day in Venice, Commissario Brunetti and his assistant Vianello play hooky to help Vianello’s friend Marco Ribetti, arrested during an environmental protest. They secure his release, only to be faced with the fury of the man’sOn a spring day in Venice, Commissario Brunetti and his assistant Vianello play hooky to help Vianello’s friend Marco Ribetti, arrested during an environmental protest. They secure his release, only to be faced with the fury of the man’s father-in-law, Giovanni De Cal, who has made violent threats against Ribetti. Brunetti’s curiousity is piqued, and he finds himself drawn to investigate. Is De Cal the type of man to carry out his threats? When the body of De Cal’s bookish night watchman is found in front of the blazing furnace, he wonders: Could the old man have killed him?
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Suffer the Little Children
- By: Donna Leon
- Narrator: David Colacci
- Length: 8 hours 13 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2007
- Language: English
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3.82(4255 ratings)
3.82(4255 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0021.95 USDWhen Commissario Brunetti is summoned in the middle of the night to the hospital bed of a pediatrician, he is confronted with more questions than answers. Three men–a young carabiniere captain and two privates from out of town–burst intoWhen Commissario Brunetti is summoned in the middle of the night to the hospital bed of a pediatrician, he is confronted with more questions than answers. Three men–a young carabiniere captain and two privates from out of town–burst into the doctor’s apartment while the family was sleeping, attacked him, and took away his eighteen-month-old boy. What could have motivated an assault by the forces of the state that was so violent it has left the doctor mute? As Brunetti delves into the case, he begins to uncover a story of infertility, desperation, and illegal dealings. Then his colleague, Inspector Vianello, discovers a money-making scam between pharmacists and doctors in the city. Medical records are missing and it appears as if one of the pharmacists is after more than money. What secrets are in the records? And what has been done with them?
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The Girl of His Dreams
- By: Donna Leon
- Narrator: David Colacci
- Length: 9 hours 7 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2008
- Language: English
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3.82(5165 ratings)
3.82(5165 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0025.95 USDOn a rainy morning, not long after the funeral of his mother, Commissario Brunetti and Ispettore Vianello respond to a 911 call reporting a body floating near the steps in one of Venice’s side canals. Reaching down to pull it out,On a rainy morning, not long after the funeral of his mother, Commissario Brunetti and Ispettore Vianello respond to a 911 call reporting a body floating near the steps in one of Venice’s side canals. Reaching down to pull it out, Brunetti’s wrist is caught by the silkiness of golden hair, and he sees a small foot–together he and Vianello lift a dead girl from the water. But, inconceivably, no one has reported a missing child, nor the theft of the gold jewelry that she carries.
So Brunetti is drawn into a search not only for the cause of her death, but also for her identity, her family, and for the secrets that people will keep in order to protect their children–be they innocent or guilty. The investigation takes Brunetti from the canals and palazzos of Venice to a Gypsy encampment on the mainland, through quicksands of connections and relationships both known and concealed, as he struggles with both institutional prejudice and entrenched criminality to try to unravel the fate of the dead child.
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About Face
- By: Donna Leon
- Narrator: David Colacci
- Length: 9 hours 40 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2009
- Language: English
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3.83(4115 ratings)
3.83(4115 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0019.95 USDDonna Leon’s novels have won her countless fans, heaps of critical acclaim, and a place among the top ranks of international crime writers. Through the warmhearted, perceptive, and principled Commissario Guido Brunetti, Leon’sDonna Leon’s novels have won her countless fans, heaps of critical acclaim, and a place among the top ranks of international crime writers. Through the warmhearted, perceptive, and principled Commissario Guido Brunetti, Leon’s bestselling books have explored Venice in all its aspects: history, tourism, high culture, food, family, but also violent crime and political corruption.
In About Face, Leon returns to one of her signature subjects: the environment, which has reached a crisis in Italy. Incinerators across the south of Italy are at full capacity, burning who-knows-what and releasing unacceptable levels of dangerous air pollutants, while in Naples, enormous garbage piles grow in the streets. In Venice, with the polluted waters of the canals and a major chemical complex across the lagoon, the issue is never far from the fore.
Environmental concerns become significant in Brunetti’s work when an investigator from the Carabiniere, looking into the illegal hauling of garbage, asks for a favor. 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. Brunetti soon finds himself in the middle of an investigation into murder and corruption more dangerous than anything he’s seen before.
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A Question of Belief
- By: Donna Leon
- Narrator: David Colacci
- Length: 9 hours 11 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2010
- Language: English
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3.92(4387 ratings)
3.92(4387 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0025.95 USDCommissario Guido Brunetti must contend with ingenious corruption, bureaucratic intransigence, and the stifling heat of a Venetian summer. As he plans a trip to the mountains with his family, he learns that cases at the local court–hardlyCommissario Guido Brunetti must contend with ingenious corruption, bureaucratic intransigence, and the stifling heat of a Venetian summer. As he plans a trip to the mountains with his family, he learns that cases at the local court–hardly known as a model of efficiency–are being delayed to the benefit of one of the parties. A creative new trick for corrupting the system, perhaps, but what can Brunetti do about it? Just when it looks like he will be able to get away, a shocking, violent crime forces him to stay in Venice.
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Drawing Conclusions
- By: Donna Leon
- Narrator: David Colacci
- Length: 9 hours 18 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2011
- Language: English
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3.89(5041 ratings)
3.89(5041 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0025.95 USDLate one night, Commissario Guido Brunetti’s telefonino rings. A old woman’s body has been found in a Spartan apartment on Campo San Giacomo dell’Orio. Brunetti sees some signs of force on the old woman, but they could just asLate one night, Commissario Guido Brunetti’s telefonino rings. A old woman’s body has been found in a Spartan apartment on Campo San Giacomo dell’Orio. Brunetti sees some signs of force on the old woman, but they could just as easily have been from the radiator near where she fell. When the medical examiner rules that the woman died of a heart attack, it seems there is nothing to investigate. But he can’t shake the feeling that perhaps the woman was threatened.
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Beastly Things
- By: Donna Leon
- Narrator: David Colacci
- Length: 9 hours 20 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2012
- Language: English
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3.95(4437 ratings)
3.95(4437 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0025.95 USDWhen the body of man is found in a canal, damaged by the tides, carrying no wallet, and wearing only one shoe, Brunetti has little to work with. No local has filed a missing-person report, and no hotel guests have disappeared. Where was the crimeWhen the body of man is found in a canal, damaged by the tides, carrying no wallet, and wearing only one shoe, Brunetti has little to work with. No local has filed a missing-person report, and no hotel guests have disappeared. Where was the crime scene? And how can Brunetti identify the man when he can’t show pictures of his face?
The autopsy shows a way forward: it turns out the man was suffering from a rare, disfiguring disease. With Inspector Vianello, Brunetti canvasses shoe stores and winds up on the mainland in Mestre, outside of his usual sphere. From a shopkeeper, they learn that the man had a kindly way with animals. At the same time, animal rights and meat consumption are quickly becoming preoccupying issues at the Venice Questura and in Brunetti’s home, where conversation at family meals offers a window into the joys and conflicts of Italian life. Perhaps with the help of Signorina Elettra, Brunetti and Vianello can identify the man and understand why someone wanted him dead.
As subtle and engrossing as ever, Leon’s Beastly Things is immensely enjoyable, intriguing, and ultimately moving.
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The Golden Egg
- By: Donna Leon
- Narrator: David Rintoul
- Length: 8 hours 1 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2013
- Language: English
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3.93(5315 ratings)
3.93(5315 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0025.95 USDOver the years, the bestselling Commissario Guido Brunetti series has conquered the hearts of mystery lovers all over the world. Brunetti is both a perceptive investigator and a principled family man, and through him, Leon has explored Venice in allOver the years, the bestselling Commissario Guido Brunetti series has conquered the hearts of mystery lovers all over the world. Brunetti is both a perceptive investigator and a principled family man, and through him, Leon has explored Venice in all its aspects: its history, beauty, food, and social life, but also its crime and corruption. In The Golden Egg, as the first leaves of autumn begin to fall, Vice Questore Patta asks Brunetti to look into a minor violation committed by the mayor’s future daughter-in-law. Brunetti has no interest in helping his boss amass political favors, but he has little choice but to comply. Then Brunetti’s wife, Paola, comes to him with a request of her own. The mentally handicapped man who worked at their dry cleaners has just died of a sleeping pill overdose, and Paola loathes the idea that he lived and died without anyone noticing him, or helping him. To please his wife, Brunetti investigates the death, and is surprised to find nothing on the man: no birth certificate, no passport, no driver’s license, no credit cards. As far as the Italian government is concerned, he never existed. And yet, there is the body. As secrets unravel, Brunetti suspects an aristocratic family might be somehow connected to the death. But why would anyone want this sweet, simple-minded man dead?
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By Its Cover
- By: Donna Leon
- Narrator: Donna Leon
- Length: 8 hours 19 minutes
- Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
- Publish date: April 01, 2014
- Language: English
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3.82(4395 ratings)
3.82(4395 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0019.99 USDDonna Leon’ s critically acclaimed, internationally bestselling Commissario Guido Brunetti series has attracted readers the world over with the beauty of its setting, the humanity of its characters, and its fearlessness in exploring politics,Donna Leon’ s critically acclaimed, internationally bestselling Commissario Guido Brunetti series has attracted readers the world over with the beauty of its setting, the humanity of its characters, and its fearlessness in exploring politics, morality, and contemporary Italian culture. In the pages of Leon’ s novels, the beloved conversations of the Brunetti family have drawn on topics of art and literature, but books are at the heart of this novel in a way they never have been before. One afternoon, Commissario Guido Brunetti gets a frantic call from the director of a prestigious Venetian library. Someone has stolen pages out of several rare books. After a round of questioning, the case seems clear: the culprit must be the man who requested the volumes, an American professor from a Kansas university. The only problem– the man fled the library earlier that day, and after checking his credentials, the American professor doesn’ t exist. As the investigation proceeds, the suspects multiply. And when a seemingly harmless theologian, who had spent years reading at the library turns up brutally murdered, Brunetti must question his expectations about what makes a man innocent, or guilty.
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Falling in Love
- By: Donna Leon
- Narrator: Donna Leon
- Length: 8 hours 24 minutes
- Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
- Publish date: April 07, 2015
- Language: English
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3.89(3476 ratings)
3.89(3476 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0019.99 USDDonna Leon’s Death at La Fenice, the first novel in her beloved Commissario Guido Brunetti series, introduced readers to the glamorous and cutthroat world of opera and one of Italy’s finest living sopranos, Flavia Petrelli-then a suspectDonna Leon’s Death at La Fenice, the first novel in her beloved Commissario Guido Brunetti series, introduced readers to the glamorous and cutthroat world of opera and one of Italy’s finest living sopranos, Flavia Petrelli-then a suspect in the poisoning of a renowned German conductor. Years after Brunetti cleared her name, Flavia has returned to Venice and La Fenice to sing the lead in Tosca. Brunetti and his wife, Paola, attend an early performance, and Flavia receives a standing ovation. Back in her dressing room, she finds bouquets of yellow roses-too many roses. Every surface of the room is covered with them. An anonymous fan has been showering Flavia with these beautiful gifts in London, St. Petersburg, Amsterdam, and now, Venice, but she no longer feels flattered. A few nights later, invited by Brunetti to dine at his in-laws’ palazzo, Flavia confesses 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.
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The Waters of Eternal Youth
- By: Donna Leon
- Narrator: Donna Leon
- Length: 9 hours 10 minutes
- Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
- Publish date: March 08, 2016
- Language: English
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4.12(4010 ratings)
4.12(4010 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0019.99 USDIn Donna Leon’s Commissario Guido Brunetti series, the Venetian inspector has been called on to investigate many things, from shocking to petty crimes. But in The Waters of Eternal Youth, the 25th novel in this celebrated series, BrunettiIn Donna Leon’s Commissario Guido Brunetti series, the Venetian inspector has been called on to investigate many things, from shocking to petty crimes. But in The Waters of Eternal Youth, the 25th novel in this celebrated series, Brunetti finds himself drawn into a case that may not be a case at all. Fifteen years ago, a teenage girl fell into a canal late at night. Unable to swim, she went under and started to drown, only surviving thanks to a nearby man, an alcoholic, who heard her splashes and pulled her out, though not before she suffered irreparable brain damage that left her in a state of permanent childhood, unable to learn or mature. The drunk man claimed he saw her thrown into the canal by another man, but the following day he couldn’t 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’s 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 damaged perpetual childhood, The Waters of Eternal Youth is another wonderful addition to this series.
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Earthly Remains
- By: Donna Leon
- Narrator: Donna Leon
- Length: 10 hours 29 minutes
- Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
- Publish date: April 04, 2017
- Language: English
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4.03(3934 ratings)
4.03(3934 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0024.99 USDDonna Leon’s bestselling mystery novels set in Venice have won a multitude of fans for their insider’s portrayal of La Serenissima. From family meals to coffee bars, and from vaporetti rides to the homes and apartments of Venetians, theDonna Leon’s bestselling mystery novels set in Venice have won a multitude of fans for their insider’s portrayal of La Serenissima. From family meals to coffee bars, and from vaporetti rides to the homes and apartments of Venetians, the details and rhythms of everyday life are an integral part of this beloved series. But so are the suffocating corruption, the never-ending influx of tourists, and crimes big and small. Through it all, Leon’s Commissario Guido Brunetti has been an enduring figure. A good man who loves his family and his city, Brunetti is relentless in his pursuit of truth and some measure of justice. In Earthly Remains, the twenty-sixth novel in this series, Brunetti’s endurance is tested more than ever before. During an interrogation of an entitled, arrogant man suspected of giving drugs to a young girl who then died, 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 Pliny’s Natural History. The recuperative stay goes according to plan until Davide Casati, the caretaker of the house on Sant’Erasmo, goes missing following a sudden storm. Now, Brunetti feels compelled to investigate, to set aside his leave of absence and understand what happened to the man who had become his friend. Earthly Remains is quintessential Donna Leon, a powerful addition to this enduring series.
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The Temptation of Forgiveness
- By: Donna Leon
- Narrator: Donna Leon
- Length: 9 hours 38 minutes
- Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
- Publish date: March 20, 2018
- Language: English
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3.91(3501 ratings)
3.91(3501 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0019.99 USDIn 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 Surprised, if not dismayed, to discover from hisIn 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 Surprised, if not dismayed, to discover from his superior, Vice-Questore Patta, that leaks are emanating from the Questura, Commissario Guido Brunetti is surprised more consequentially by the appearance of a friend of his wife’s, fearful that her son is using drugs and hopeful Brunetti can somehow intervene. When Tullio Gasparini, the woman’s husband, is found unconscious and with a serious brain injury at the foot of a Venice bridge at midnight, Brunetti is drawn to pursue a possible connection to the boy’s behavior. But the truth, as Brunetti has experienced so often, is rarely straightforward. An examination of Gasparini’s home office reveals a number of strange coupons in his elderly aunt’s name from a local drugstore, which over time reveal a long-running scam. As the 27th novel unfolds in Donna Leon’s exquisite chronicle of Venetian life in all its blissful and sordid aspects, Brunetti is ever more impressed by the intuition of his fellow Commissario Claudia Griffoni, and by the endless resourcefulness and craftiness of Signorina Elettra, Patta’s secretary and gate-keeper, and reminded of the ever-lasting virtues of his own family. His intellectual pursuits lead him to read Sophocles’ play Antigone, so revealing of the unintended consequences that can erupt from bad decisions-and tempt him to consider at least personal forgiveness for a crime from the heart gone bad.
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Unto Us a Son is Given
- By: Donna Leon
- Length: 9 hours 20 minutes
- Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
- Publish date: March 05, 2019
- Language: English
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4.12(3156 ratings)
4.12(3156 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0019.99 USD“Your situation is always ambiguous, isn’t it, Guido?”, his father-in-law, Count Orazio Falier, observes of Donna Leon’s soulful detective, Guido Brunetti, at the beginning of her superb 28th Brunetti novel, Unto Us A Son Is“Your situation is always ambiguous, isn’t it, Guido?”, his father-in-law, Count Orazio Falier, observes of Donna Leon’s soulful detective, Guido Brunetti, at the beginning of her superb 28th Brunetti novel, Unto Us A Son Is Given. “The world we live in makes that necessary,” Brunetti presciently replies. Count Falier was urging his Venetian son-in-law to investigate, and preferably intervene in, the seemingly innocent plan of the Count’s best friend, the elderly Gonzalo Rodriguez de Tejada, to adopt a much younger man as his son. Under arcane Italian inheritance laws this man would then be heir to Gonzalo’s entire fortune, a prospect Gonzalo’s friends find appalling. For his part, Brunetti wonders why the old man, a close family friend, can’t be allowed his pleasure in peace. And yet, what seems innocent on the Venetian surface can cause tsunamis beneath. Gonzalo unexpectedly, and literally, drops dead on the street, and his good friend Berta Dodson, just arrived in Venice for the memorial service, is strangled in her hotel room?having earlier sent Gonzalo an email saying “We are the only ones who know you cannot do this,” referring to the adoption. Now with an urgent case to solve, Brunetti reluctantly untangles the long-hidden mystery in Gonzalo’s life that ultimately led to murder?a resolution that brings him way more pain than satisfaction. Once again, Donna Leon brilliantly plumbs the twists and turns of the human condition, reuniting us with some of crime fiction’s most memorable and enduring characters.
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Trace Elements
- By: Donna Leon
- Length: 10 hours 2 minutes
- Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
- Publish date: March 03, 2020
- Language: English
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3.88(3956 ratings)
3.88(3956 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0024.99 USDA woman’s cryptic dying words in a Venetian hospice lead Guido Brunetti to uncover a threat to the entire region in Donna Leon’s haunting twenty-ninth Brunetti novel When Dottoressa Donato calls the Questura to report that a dyingA woman’s cryptic dying words in a Venetian hospice lead Guido Brunetti to uncover a threat to the entire
region in Donna Leon’s haunting twenty-ninth Brunetti novelWhen 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, Signorina 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.As she has done so often through her memorable characters and storytelling skill, Donna Leon once again engages
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our sensibilities as to the differences between guilt and responsibility. -
Transient Desires
- By: Donna Leon
- Length: 9 hours 48 minutes
- Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
- Publish date: March 16, 2021
- Language: English
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4.12(3750 ratings)
4.12(3750 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0019.99 USDIn the landmark thirtieth installment of the bestselling series the New Yorker has called “an unusually potent cocktail of atmosphere and event,” Guido Brunetti is forced to confront an unimaginable crime. In his many years as aIn the landmark thirtieth installment of the bestselling series the New Yorker has called “an unusually potent cocktail of atmosphere and event,” Guido Brunetti is forced to confront an unimaginable crime.
In his many years as a commissario, Guido Brunetti has seen all manner of crime and known intuitively how to navigate the various pathways in his native city, Venice, to discover the person responsible. Now, in Transient Desires, 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 behavior 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 rumored to be involved in more sinister nighttime activities in the Laguna. To get to the bottom of what proves to be a gutwrenching case, Brunetti needs to enlist the help of both the Carabinieri and the Guardia 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 organized.
Donna Leon’s Transient Desires is as powerful as any novel she has written, testing Brunetti to his limits and forcing him to listen very carefully for the truth.
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Give Unto Others
- By: Donna Leon
- Length: 10 hours 17 minutes
- Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
- Publish date: March 15, 2022
- Language: English
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4.13(1989 ratings)
4.13(1989 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0024.99 USDBrunetti is forced to confront the price of loyalty, to his past and in his work, as a seemingly innocent request leads him into troubling waters What role can or should loyalty play in the life of a police inspector? It’s a questionBrunetti is forced to confront the price of loyalty, to his past and in his work, as a seemingly innocent request leads him into troubling waters
What role can or should loyalty play in the life of a police inspector? It’s a question Commissario Guido Brunetti must face and ultimately answer in Give unto Others, Donna Leon’s splendid thirty-first installment of her acclaimed Venetian crime series.
Brunetti is approached for a favor by Elisabetta Foscarini, a woman he knows casually, but her mother was good to Brunetti’s mother, so he feels obliged to at least look into the matter privately, and not as official police business. Foscarini’s son-in-law, Enrico Fenzo,
has alarmed his wife by confessing their family might be in danger because of something he’s involved with. Since Fenzo is an accountant, Brunetti logically suspects the cause of danger is related to the finances of a client. Yet his clients seem benign: an optician, a
restaurateur, a charity established by his father-in-law. However, when Foscarini’s daughter’s place of work is vandalized, Brunetti asks his own favors–that his colleagues Claudia Griffoni, Lorenzo Vianello, and Signorina Elettra Zorzi assist his private
investigation, which soon enough turns official as they uncover the dark and Janus-faced nature of a venerable Italian institution.Exploring the wobbly line between the criminal and non-criminal, revealing previously untold elements of Brunetti’s past, Give unto Others shows that the price of reciprocity can be steep.
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So Shall You Reap
So Shall You Reap is an upcoming installment in the series, set to come out in March 2023. The gist of the plot is known: a hand’s been found in one of the canals, but the body is missing. What gives? Find out next month.
Audiobooks
Donna Leon is one of the bestselling crime fiction authors, and her books are available at virtually every retailer. To experience the story and relive Brunetti’s adventure, however, you ought to listen to the novels in audiobook format and hear them performed by some of the leading voice actors in the industry.
Speechify
Speechify Audiobooks is a leading audiobook platform with over 70,000 titles, including a wide range of books in the detective and crime fiction genres, such as the entire Guido Brunetti series and other Donna Leon books like The Jewels of Paradise.
Dive into detective stories by Donna Leon, Lee Child, Charlaine Harris, Agatha Christie, and others by signing up for Speechify Audiobooks today.
Plus, get your first premium book for free.
Cliff Weitzman
Cliff Weitzman is a dyslexia advocate and the CEO and founder of Speechify, the #1 text-to-speech app in the world, totaling over 100,000 5-star reviews and ranking first place in the App Store for the News & Magazines category. In 2017, Weitzman was named to the Forbes 30 under 30 list for his work making the internet more accessible to people with learning disabilities. Cliff Weitzman has been featured in EdSurge, Inc., PC Mag, Entrepreneur, Mashable, among other leading outlets.
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