Maia Figueroa Evans Livres

In Donna Leon’s Commissario Guido Brunetti series, the Venetian inspector investigates a range of crimes. In this 25th installment, Brunetti faces a case that may not even be a case. Fifteen years prior, a teenage girl fell into a canal and, unable to swim, nearly drowned. She was saved by an alcoholic man who claimed to have seen her thrown in but later lost his memory of the event. The girl survived but suffered irreversible brain damage, leaving her in a state of permanent childhood. At a charity dinner, her aristocratic grandmother asks Brunetti to look into the incident. Unsure of the legal implications due to the statute of limitations, Brunetti feels compelled to help the guilt-ridden woman, who is also his mother-in-law’s best friend. As he delves deeper, he becomes increasingly invested in the case, questioning whether a crime truly occurred. The narrative weaves through contemporary Venetian life, touching on themes of historical preservation, housing issues, and the plight of African migrants, all while exploring the poignant story of a woman trapped in a damaged existence. This installment adds depth to the series, showcasing Brunetti’s character and the complexities of life in Venice.

In this dazzing collections, prize-winning short story writer Kelly Link takes the ordinary and makes it strange - and the strange and makes it ordinary, engaging, funny, eerie and magical these nine stories prove Link to be an original and important talent.

Surprised, if not dismayed, to discover from his superior, Vice-Questore Patta, that leaks are emanating from the <i>Questura</i>, Commissario Guido Brunetti is surprised more consequentially by the appearance of a friend of his wife's, fearful that her son is using drugs and hopeful Brunetti can somehow intervene. When Tullio Gasparini, the woman's husband, is found unconscious and with a serious brain injury at the foot of a Venice bridge at midnight, Brunetti is drawn to pursue a possible connection to the boy's behavior. But the truth, as Brunetti has experienced so often, is rarely straightforward. An examination of Gasparini's home office reveals a number of strange coupons in his elderly aunt's name from a local drugstore, which over time reveal a long-running scam. As the 27th novel unfolds in Donna Leon's exquisite chronicle of Venetian life in all its blissful and sordid aspects, Brunetti is ever more impressed by the intuition of his fellow Commissario Claudia Griffoni, and by the endless resourcefulness and craftiness of Signorina Elettra, Patta's secretary and gate-keeper, and reminded of the ever-lasting virtues of his own family. His intellectual pursuits lead him to read Sophocles' play <i>Antigone</i>, so revealing of the unintended consequences that can erupt from bad decisions--and tempt him to consider at least personal forgiveness for a crime from the heart gone bad.