Italian Crime

Count Falier urges his Venetian son-in-law Guido Brunetti 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. Then 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.

When Dan Armstrong is asked to provide security at a private villa on the outskirts of Pisa, he’s pretty sure it will be an easy job. Villa Gregory is remote; the gathered guests are rich – what could possibly go wrong? Inside the high walls of the palatial villa, Dan discovers the gathered guests are some of the most powerful tycoons in the media world, with plans for world domination. With so much at stake, Dan redoubles his efforts to keep everyone safe. But when one of the group is found murdered, Dan’s heart sinks – especially considering Anna’s own daughter is in the frame.

Early one morning, Silvio Lupanello, a big shot in the village of Vigata, is found dead in his car with his pants around his knees. The car happens to be parked in a rough part of town frequented by prostitutes and drug dealers, and as the news of his death spreads, the rumors begin. Enter Inspector Salvo Montalbano, Vigata's most respected detective, who has his doubts about the way Silvio died.

On December 5, 2009, Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito were found guilty of the murder of Meredith Kercher. In December of the following year, the appeal trial began. Despite the initial verdict, the Italian and international public opinion is widely divided: many are those who think that Amanda and Raffaele are the victims of a miscarriage of justice. Images of the couple have been seen around the world, on the web and on TV screens, creating a true media sensation.But what really took place?

In a city of masks, no one is what they seem . . . Englishman Richard Hughes has survived a stint as a galley slave and is now a free man in Venice, where he enjoys a modest life as a fencing master. He believes he has long-since left behind the ideals that landed him in slavery...until he...

The incredible story of the two most high-profile Italian cases in recent history: the story of the Monster of Florence, a serial killer who targeted unmarried couples and terrorized Florence for two decades, and the Amanda Knox case.

In Death and Judgment, the fourth novel in Donna Leon's bestselling Commissario Guido Brunetti series, a truck crashes and spills its dangerous cargo on a treacherous road in the Italian Dolomite Mountains. Meanwhile, a prominent international lawyer is found dead aboard an intercity train bound...

In the tenth novel in Donna Leon’s bestselling Commissario Guido Brunetti series, Brunetti infiltrates a clannish island community to investigate the murder of two local fishermen. Donna Leon has amassed devoted fans around the world for her atmospheric and intelligent Commissario Guido...

Winner of the CWA Macallan Silver Dagger for Fiction, Friends in High Places is the ninth novel in Leon's bestselling and highly acclaimed Commissario Guido Brunetti series. “Leon tells the story as if she loves Venice as much as her detective does, warts and all. The plot and subplots unfold...

In the sixteenth novel in Donna Leon’s bestselling Commissario Guido Brunetti series, a mysterious kidnapping leads the Venetian detective into the darkest corners of the medical establishment. “Donna Leon is the undisputed crime fiction queen...[Her] ability to capture the city’s social...

In 1997 a six-year-old boy questioned by authorities relayed disturbing stories of abuse. The more he talked, the more people were implicated in his shocking revelations. And he was only the first child to come forward. Within a year, fifteen more children with similar tales were transferred out of the Bassa region of Italy to protected locations. Their parents were accused of belonging to a satanic sect that performed sex rituals under the aegis of beloved local priest Don Giorgio Govoni. With each child’s confession, the network of monsters grew.

From “the undisputed crime fiction queen” (The Baltimore Sun), one of Commissario Guido Brunetti’s most enigmatic cases: leading Donna Leon’s iconic detective from the local dry cleaner all the way to Vienna’s most elite aristocrats. Over the years, Donna Leon’s bestselling...

Quando riceve una telefonata dalla sua ex compagna di università Gabby, che la invita a trascorrere il Natale nella sua casa sul lago in una sperduta località della Scozia, Sasha sa che sarebbe meglio non accettare. Dodici anni prima, mentre festeggiava la Vigilia di Natale con le cinque persone a lei più care, era accaduto un fatto orribile che aveva cambiato per sempre la loro amicizia. E da allora Sasha non ne ha più parlato con nessuno.

Un libro che racconta il potere della camorra, la sua affermazione economica e finanziaria, e la sua potenza militare, la sua metamorfosi in comitato d'affari. Una scrittura in prima persona fatta dal luogo degli agguati, nei negozi e nelle fabbriche dei clan, raccogliendo testimonianze e leggende. La storia parte dalla guerra di Secondigliano, dall'ascesa del gruppo Di Lauro al conflitto interno che ha generato 80 morti in poco più di un mese.

“The Godmother [is a] crisply written, dutifully researched book exploring the role of women in the…underbelly of Italian life.” —New York Times Book Review The chilling story of one woman’s rise to prominence in the Italian Mafia, and the as-yet untold stories of the women who...

When the body of a wealthy elderly woman is found, brutally murdered in her Venetian flat, the police suspect her maid, who has disappeared. As the runaway maid’s train is leaving Italy for Romania, she is approached by the border police, runs away, and is killed as she crosses the tracks in...

“A stunning novel, the best of this brilliant series, with a twist at the end that will leave even the most sophisticated reader gasping.” —The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Donna Leon’s bestselling series featuring the principled, warmhearted Venetian Commissario Guido Brunetti has won her...

Alice was a hopeful young graduate student when, on a beautiful August night, her body was found in the woods. She'll always remember the night she was murdered. And she still suffers the grief and rage that destroyed her family. But what Alice regrets most is the last fight she had with her boyfriend, Enrico - and the fact that she never had the chance to tell him something that would have changed everything. A decade later, Enrico has returned to the provincial town where Alice lived and died, to sell his family home.

Venetian detective Commissario Guido Brunetti is called to investigate the death of a young cadet. The boy has been found hanged, a presumed suicide, in Venice's elite military academy. Brunetti's sorrow for the boy, so close in age to his own son, is rivaled only by his contempt for a community...

From acclaimed author Donna Leon, Commissario Guido Brunetti dredges up dark secrets from Italy’s anti-Semitic past in his captivating eleventh case. Mystery lovers everywhere are addicted to Donna Leon’s ever-honorable Commissario Guido Brunetti and her portrayal of Venice’s beautiful but...