by Donna Leon
Part of Commissario Brunetti, book 15
First published 2006
Commissario Brunetti takes a break from official duties to help his assistant Vianello free a friend arrested at an environmental protest. Marco Ribetti walks free, but his freedom ignites the rage of Giovanni De Cal, his cantankerous father-in-law who owns a glass factory on Murano. De Cal has been making violent threats against Ribetti in the island's bars, and Brunetti wonders if the old man might act on his words. When De Cal's night watchman turns up dead, Brunetti travels to the secretive glass-making island to hunt for answers. He moves through quiet bars and narrow streets, takes clandestine boat rides, and shares long meals as he pieces together the truth. The investigation pulls him into the complex world where Venice's tourism industry collides with the lives of its native residents. Brunetti must solve the case before the watchman's death fades into the city's indifferent memory.
Genres: literary-fiction, mystery, crime, contemporary
Vibes: atmospheric, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: amateur-sleuth, family-drama
Setting: Venice, Murano
Period: contemporary
256 pages · Hardcover · Atlantic Monthly Press