by Donna Leon
Part of Commissario Brunetti, book 16
First published 2007
Commissario Guido Brunetti receives a midnight summons to a hospital where a senior pediatrician lies in his bed, unable to speak. Three men from the Carabinieri have broken into the doctor's apartment during the night, beaten him severely, and kidnapped his eighteen-month-old son. The attack was so brutal it left the physician mute. Brunetti faces troubling questions about why state forces would launch such a violent raid and who authorized this disturbing operation. Meanwhile, Inspector Vianello uncovers a financial scheme involving local pharmacists and doctors. One pharmacist appears to want something beyond mere profit. As Brunetti navigates these parallel investigations through the canals and streets of Venice, he must untangle the connections between official corruption, medical fraud, and a missing child. The city's beauty masks the small-town corruption that thrives beneath its surface.
Genres: suspense, mystery, crime, thriller
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: investigative-mystery, official-corruption
Setting: Venice
Period: contemporary
264 pages · Hardcover · Atlantic Monthly Press
Content warnings: violence