
Donna Leon’s eighteen novels have won her countless fans,
heaps of critical acclaim, and a place among the top ranks
of international crime writers. Through the warm-hearted,
perceptive, and principled Commissario Guido Brunetti,
Leon’s best-selling 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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