About Face

At a dinner party given by his parents-in-law, Commissario Brunetti meets Franca Marinello, the wife of a prosperous Venetian businessman. He's charmed - perhaps too charmed, suggests his wife Paola - by her love of Virgil and Cicero, but shocked by her appearance. A few days later, Brunetti is visited by Carabinieri Maggior Filippo Guarino from the nearby city of Marghera. As part of a wider investigation into Mafia takeovers of businesses in the region, Guarino wants information about the owner of a trucking company who was found murdered in his office. He believes the man's death is connected to the illegal transportation of refuse - and more sinister material - in his company's trucks. No stranger to mutual suspicion and competition between rival Italian police departments, Brunetti is nevertheless puzzled by the younger man's behaviour. Eventually Guarino agrees to email a photo of his suspect, but by the time the photograph arrives, he himself is dead. Was he killed because he got too close?

ISBN 0099533367   Pages 336 ISBN13 9780099533368 (What's this?)   Weight (grammes) 235 Publisher Cornerstone   Published in London Imprint Arrow Books Ltd   Height (mm) 199 Format Paperback   Width (mm) 129 Publication date 04 Mar 2010   Spine width (mm) 20 DEWEY 813.54   Academic level General DEWEY edition DC22

[a] brilliant series. Seven, Sunday Telegraph Super sleuth Brunetti again patrols Venice's dark canal ways in this Italian crimefest. Once again, Brunetti proves he's more than a match for the local mob. Mirror The very first sentences of About Face showcase Donna Leon's elegant, effortless style...another great Brunetti outing ... The details of home-cooked meals and family arguments, alongside a never-ending flow of crime, add depth to Leon's stories and are what makes her characters so believable and, in turn, her books so readable. Independent a thoroughly enjoyable and atmospheric read. Waterstones Books Quarterly The Brunetti series is dependably enjoyable...There are fine scenes of sustained dialogue, notably an exchange between Brunetti and the Count, his father-in-law, over a pair of portraits, that deserves to be called Jamesian. TLS

 Be the first to write a customer review