Commissario Guido Brunetti

Second book in the Guido Burnetti series. Brunetti is a commissario (detective superintendent) in the Italian State Police, stationed in Venice and a native of that city. From Wikipedia: "Early one morning Brunetti is confronted with the body of a young man fished out of a fetid canal. All clues point to a mugging, but robbery seems too convenient a motive. Then something incriminating is found in the dead man's flat, which points to the existence of a high level cabal, and Brunetti becomes convinced that somebody is taking great pains to provide an easy solution to the crime."

In Venice, Commissioner Brunetti seeks the killer of a man found wearing high heel shoes, his chest and legs shaved. At first glance a routine murder of a transvestite, but closer inspection reveals otherwise.

Italian commissioner Guido Brunetti investigates the shooting death of a lawyer on a Venice-bound train, and in the process discovers a drug and prostitution racket run by some of Venice's finest citizens. By the author of Dressed for Death.

The Venice commissioner, Guido Brunetti, investigates the murder of a museum director who was involved in the traffic of Chinese antiques. Suspicion falls on a wealthy collector.

During renovations to a deserted farmhouse, workers discover a grave. The signet ring found nearby reignites an infamous kidnapping case involving one of Venice's oldest aristocratic families.

349 pages ; 20 cm

A young cadet is found dead at an elite military academy. Commissario Brunetti is getting nowhere with the investigation because no one is cooperating.

When a miserly spinster is found brutally murdered in her Venice apartment, police immediately suspect her Romanian housekeeper. They are certain their job is done after the immigrant dies while fleeing arrest, but weeks later; a neighbor comes forward to defend the innocence of the accused. The only investigator who believes the alibi is Brunetti, who will have to go behind the backs of his superiors to vindicate the Romanian and find her employer's actual killer. As always, the indispensable hacking skills of the ever-loyal Signorina Elettra are the perfect complement to Brunetti's meticulous detective work. She discovers mysterious deposits in the old woman's bank account, but who made them? As Brunetti investigates, his wife, at home, reads him teachings on the Seven Deadly Sins.

An unidentified African street vendor is executed in front of tourists in the middle of Venice. Guido Brunetti, the policeman who usually must solve the problem, is further challenged when other Italian agencies get involved. In parallel with the plot narrative, the characters reveal the societal conflicts and confusion in their attitudes toward legal and illegal immigration and how it is changing life in Venice.