Beastly Things
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3.6 • 48 Ratings
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- £5.99
Publisher Description
‘The book is written with that depth of thought about crime and humanity that characterises the best of Leon’s work.’ Independent
‘[A] fine, atmospheric novel…Twenty-one books on, [Leon] has lost none of her delightful skill and wit.’ Evening Standard
When a body is found floating in a canal, strangely disfigured and with multiple stab wounds, Commissario Brunetti is called to investigate. He is convinced he recognises the man from somewhere, but with a pair of distinctive shoes as the only clue, the case cannot progress.
Recalling a violent farmers’ protest that took place the previous year, Brunetti suddenly remembers the victim. But what was his involvement with the protest, and what does it have to do with his murder? Acting on this fragile lead, Brunetti and Inspector Vianello set out on an investigation that will lead them from Venice’s placid canals to the slaughterhouse, and into a terrifying world of blackmail and corruption.
Both a gripping case and a harrowing exploration of the dark side of Italy's food industry, Donna Leon's latest novel is a compelling addition to the Brunetti series.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In bestseller Leon's complex, contemplative 21st Commissario Guido Brunetti mystery (after 2011's Drawing Conclusions), the Venetian police inspector must identify a man found stabbed to death and floating in a canal. Unusually, the victim suffered from a rare disease that disfigures the body and is linked to alcoholism, though the pathologist determines he wasn't a drinker. Brunetti soon discovers that the man was a veterinarian, Andrea Nava, who also worked part-time at a slaughterhouse inspecting the health of the animals brought in by the local farmers. Despite his recent separation from his wife after a tryst with a co-worker, Nava appears to have been a compassionate human being. But when Brunetti visits the slaughterhouse and begins to examine how it operates, the inspector comes to some unsettling conclusions about the murdered man, the motive, and his own life. Leon deftly blends police procedural with philosophy and existential speculation. Her intimate descriptions of Venice, where she has lived for 30 years, lend color.
