Donna Leon (2000)

A truck crashes on one of the treacherous mountain roads in the Italian Dolomites, spilling a terrible cargo. Meanwhile, a prominent international lawyer is found dead in the carriage of an intercity train at Santa Lucia. Can the two tragedies possibly be connected? Commissario Guido Brunetti digs deep into the secret lives of Italy's elite classes to find the answer.

Brunetti's hopes of a refreshing family holiday in the mountains are dashed when a gruesome discovery is made in Marghera - a body so badly beaten that the face is completely unrecognizable. But when the victim's identity is revealed, the investigation takes a very unexpected turn.

For Commissario Brunetti, it began with an early morning phone call. In the chill of the Venetian dawn, a sudden act of vandalism shatters the quiet of the deserted city. But Brunnetti is soon shocked to find that the culprit waiting to be apprehended at the scene is someone from his own family. Meanwhile, he is under pressure from his superiors at work to solve a daring robbery with a link to a suspicious accidental death. Does it all lead back to the Mafia? And how are his family's actions connected to these crimes?

The new owner of a farmhouse at the foot of the Italian Dolomites is summoned to the house when his workmen disturb a macabre grave. Once on the job, Brunetti uncovers a clue that reignites an infamous cold case of kidnapping and disappearance involving one of Venice's oldest, most aristocratic families.

During a performance of La Traviata at La Fenice opera house the distinguished German conductor is found dead, apparently poisoned by a cup of coffee. Brunetti embarks on a voyage of exploration in the often murky world both of opera and the victim's family, eventually unearthing a surprising conclusion.

Commissario Brunetti is visited by a young bureaucrat investigating the lack of official approval for the construction 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 comes to the aid of a young nursing sister who is leaving her convent following the unexpected death of five patients. At first, Brunetti's inquiries reveal nothing amiss, and he wonders whether the nun is simply creating a smoke screen to justify abandoning her vocation. But perhaps, she has stumbled onto something very real and very sinister - something that puts her life in imminent danger.

As Venice braces for a winter tempest and the onslaught of acqua alta - the rising waters from torrential rain - Commissario Guido Brunetti finds out that an old friend has been savagely beaten at the palazzo home of reigning diva Flavia Petrelli

A wealthy elderly woman is murdered. Soon after her Romanian maid was hit by a train while trying to leave Italy with a large amount of money and forged papers. The case appears to be solved. Then a neighbour provides evidence that the maid was not guilty of the murder. Brunetti digs further into the case, though officially it is closed and finds that greed was not the motive behind the killing.

Brunetti faces an unsettling case when a young cadet has been found hanged, a presumed suicide, in Venice's elite military academy. As he pursues his inquiry, he is faced with a wall of silence and finds himself caught up in the strange and stormy politics of his country's powerful elite.

Brunetti confronts a grisly sight when the body of a young American is fished out of a fetid Venetian canal. Though all the signs point to a violent mugging, something incriminating turns up in the victim's apartment that suggests the existence of a high-level conspiracy.

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. When 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.

The student Claudia Leonardo asks Commissario Brunetti for advice about a retrial. Patta is especially pleased about the support of the pretty new colleague Franca Capari. Before Brunetti can make himself known in this case, Claudia is stabbed to death. Does the murder perhaps have something to do with the valuable pictures that her grandfather acquired as an officer? When Brunetti also finds Signora Jacobs, Claudia's grandmother, dead and discovers the hiding place of the valuable paintings, the case seems to be solved. But a chance encounter finally puts Brunetti on a completely different track...

On a busy shopping street in Venice an African street vendor is shot dead. Nobody knows the dead African and only by chance Brunetti and his assistant Vianello find the victim's accommodation. There they are shot at, but the valuable rough diamonds they find did not interest the killer. Moreover, Patta interferes in the murder case and forbids Brunetti from further investigations because it is international terrorism. But Brunetti continues his investigation secretly. On his way to a nurse who wants to tell him the identity of the dead man, the commissioner is attacked. When Patta learns of Brunetti's solo effort, he forces the commissioner to request his transfer. To Sicily...

The Venetian island of Murano is known for its artisans who specialize in the traditional craft of glassmaking. When the owner of a glass factory is found murdered, Commissario Brunetti uncovers a connection between the colorful, filigree glass products that he made and some very toxic poisons. How else to explain the colorful slime containing arsenic oozing out from the factory?

When an illegal Albanian immigrant gives birth, she’s told that her baby has died and she should ask no further questions. Her personal devastation brings Brunetti into the world of child trafficking, where purveyors exploit a vulnerable population afraid to stand up for their rights. The horror continues when he learns how far in society the ripples have spread.

A ten-year-old Roma girl is found dead in a Venetian canal. Brunetti goes to the encampment where she lived, but his attempts to speak with the community there are futile. When he learns who had befriended the victim and her little brother, he begins to understand the community’s silence. It also explains why he’s hit obstacles preventing the investigation.

The murder of a trucking entrepreneur strikes close to home when Brunetti learns that the victim was involved in shady deals with a friend’s husband. Clues point to the Mafia, and Brunetti encourages his friend to turn state’s witness against them. Even more shocking is the fact that his own father-in-law may have connections with what’s turned out to be a very fishy case.

Brunetti must contend with ingenious corruption, bureaucratic intransigence, and the stifling heat of a Venetian summer. With his hometown beset by hordes of tourists and baking under a glaring sun, Brunetti’s greatest wish is to go to the mountains with his family, where he can sleep under a down comforter and catch up on his reading. But before he can go on vacation, a folder with court records has landed on his desk, brought by an old friend. It appears 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? And just when it looks like Brunetti will be able to get away, a shocking, violent crime forces him to stay in Venice.

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.

When 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 offer 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.

The apparently mentally disabled Davide falls into the canal and drowns. As it turns out, he had an overdose of beta blockers in his bloodstream. Ana Cavanelli, Davide's mother, confesses to Brunetti that she gave him the pills - Davide had asked her to die several times. When Brunetti receives a hint that there is a connection between Davide and the multimillionaire Ludovico Lembo, he gradually uncovers the abysses of a family tragedy.

The violent death of a book collector leads Commissario Brunetti to the venerable Merula Library. In precious folios pages are missing. They were ruthlessly cut out. Was the victim a collector and art thief who got involved with the wrong people on the black market? But who murders for antiquarian book pages? And don't books stand for ideal values in addition to material ones? Brunetti suspects this and pushes the investigation further. Against the will of the traditional and influential Doge family Morosini-Albini, whose proud progenitor is currently running for Venice's mayor's office and who therefore wants to hide a centuries-old secret.

The celebrated soprano Flavia Petrelli returns to Venice after almost 15 years. A reason to be happy. However, her comeback is overshadowed: a boat has been set on fire. The Opera's director is in dispute with the union and blames the latter for several attacks. But when a young costume assistant dies, Brunetti realizes that there is more at stake. When he discovers a hiding place with an observation camera, it becomes manifest: Flavia Petrelli has a stalker! Apparently, the stranger wants to stage her stage performance as an unforgettable event. In return he does not shy away from violence. Is the soprano herself in danger in the end?

Brunetti is an expert in keeping wishes of Venice's grandees out of his work. The venerable Contessa Lando-Continui, however, cannot escape even the commissario. The 80-year-old asks him to clear up a family tragedy that took place a long time ago: She wants to know how her niece fell off a bridge, where the then 15-year-old almost drowned. Due to the irreversible brain damage, Manuela, now 30 years old, remains at the mental level of a 6-year-old (small) child - and that's how it will stay forever! At the same time, when the former lifesaver is murdered, the closed case takes on an unexpected topicality. Now the commissario wants to find out what the honourable family covered up and why Manuela's father had to start a new life in the Far East. After all these years of silence, the mighty Contessa has also summoned him - without, however, defoliating what it is all about. The commissario also comes across granite with the strict patriarch. Her close confidant Sandro Vittori-Ricciardi plays an opaque role, as does Stefano Dalla Lana, the murdered man's best friend. Brunetti puts his team on the two cases in which he suspects a direct connection. In a daring scenario he wants to unravel the truth from the felt of interests and intrigues.

The last case for Brunetti. During a cure, he befriends a beekeeper. When Brunetti discovers the body of the acquaintance, his criminalist instinct awakens and he is on the track of an immense environmental scandal.