By its Cover
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4.3 • 17 Ratings
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
The peace of a Venice library is shattered by the murder of a patron in the New York Times–bestselling series starring "a superb police detective" (Library Journal).
A Seattle Times Best Mystery and Crime Novel of the Year
One afternoon, Commissario Guido Brunetti gets a frantic call from the director of a prestigious Venetian library. Someone has stolen pages out of several rare books. After a round of questioning, the case seems clear: the culprit must be the man who requested the volumes, an American professor from a Kansas university. The only problem—the man fled the library earlier that day, and after they check his credentials, it seems the American professor doesn't exist.
As the investigation proceeds, the suspects multiply. And when a seemingly harmless theologian who'd spent years reading at the library turns up brutally murdered, Brunetti must question his expectations about what makes a man innocent or guilty.
"Leon offers a finely drawn tale that encompasses theft, blackmail, emotional violence, and murder, as well as a rich array of characters [and] compellingly combines their workaday crime-solving with a detailed picture of a vanishing Venice." —The Boston Globe
"Above all, Brunetti is a careful reader, of people, of places, of situations, and he never stops at surface meanings. That's why we bookish types adore him the way we do, and why this will likely be one of his most-loved adventures." —Booklist, starred review
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In bestseller Leon's elegant 23rd Commissario Guido Brunetti mystery (after 2013's The Golden Egg), a Venetian library director reports that several valuable old books have been either stolen or damaged. The likely thief and vandal masqueraded as an American professor, but he has vanished, and his credentials prove false. With few leads, Brunetti turns to a potential witness a library patron and former priest dubbed Tertullian (after the early Christian author) by the staff because he spends his days reading the church fathers' works. Before the police can interview him, the seemingly innocuous Tertullian is brutally murdered and Brunetti discovers some of the stolen volumes in his home. This character-driven novel looks at the ravages of rare book theft on libraries, and, more broadly, the destructive effects of contemporary greed exemplified by cruise ships damaging Venice's fragile waterways on cultural heritage. Leon's skillful evocation of the city's charms, culture, and history more than compensates for an abrupt ending that might leave some readers unsatisfied.
