"Donna Leon has written many books about Commissario Guido Brunetti in Venice, this is but one of them...I love them all! They are crime novels, but so different from the usual, with vivid descriptions of the beautiful Venice Brunetti knows and loves, as well as the current problems facing Venice including corruption, climate change issues, and over tourism. The different characters (especially the incompetent Vice-Questore Patta and his enterprising secretary Signorina Elettra ) at Police Questura come alive as the investigations take place. We walk and ride the canals with the Commissario all over Venice, (a helpful map is included in the more recent publications)....if we have been so fortunate to visit La Serenissima, we can imagine popping into bars, crossing campos and standing at the bow of a vaporetto, cruising down the Grand Canal with him. And most winningly, we meet Brunetti's wonderful, longsuffering and wise wife Paola, who reads constantly, cooks fabulous meals, and teaches at the University, and who he adores, plus his two kids Raffi and Chiara. The crimes are always satisfactorily solved, although usually in a convoluted fashion, and sometimes with questions still hanging in the air, but it is the character of Venice itself, and Brunetti and his family and colleagues that is at the heart of every book."