Transient Desires

Donna Leon

Mar 2021 · A Commissario Guido Brunetti Mystery Book 30 · Atlantic Monthly Press

About this ebook

New York Times Bestseller: Two injured, unconscious American women are found in Venice, Italy, leading a police detective down a dark path: “A splendid read.” —BookPage

In his many years as a commissario, Guido Brunetti has seen all manner of crime and known intuitively how to navigate the various pathways in his native city, Venice, to discover the person responsible. In this novel in Silver Dagger Award-winning series, he faces a heinous crime committed outside his jurisdiction. He is drawn in innocently enough: two young American women have been badly injured in a boating accident, joyriding in the Laguna with two young Italians. But Brunetti’s curiosity is aroused by the men’s behavior. Why did they run off after bringing the victims to the hospital if the injuries were accidental?

As Brunetti and his colleague, Claudia Griffoni, investigate, they discover that one of the young men works for someone rumored to be involved in more sinister nighttime activities in the Laguna. To get to the bottom of what proves to be a gut-wrenching case, Brunetti needs to enlist the help of both the Carabinieri and the Guardia di Costiera. Determining how much trust he and Griffoni can put in these unfamiliar colleagues adds to the difficulty of solving a peculiarly horrible crime—whose perpetrators are technologically brilliant and ruthlessly organized . . .

“Highly atmospheric . . . Brunetti continues to delight.” —Library Journal

“[An] endlessly enjoyable series.” —The New York Times Book Review

Ratings and reviews

family-dynamics, friendship, law-enforcement, Venice, eco-awareness, international-crime-and-mystery***** I have been intermittently reading some of the Brunetti mysteries and always find them fascinating, but not always for the same reasons. I love the interactions among colleagues, the in-depth descriptions of the beauty of Venice despite the damage done by time and tourists, the social structure and prejudices peculiar to those of Italian birth, the changes in attitude toward many things by Brunetti himself, and best of all the mystery itself. But, much as I enjoy it, it feels like the series is ready for a transition into something else. There is less focus for the reader on the development of the investigation and an indefinable something else missing as well. But since this is all in the nature of deciding that the Pieta is less moving than the Mona Lisa, I still enjoyed it very much! I requested and received a free ebook copy from Grove Atlantic/Atlantic Monthly Press via NetGalley. Thank you!

About the author

Donna Leon, born in New Jersey in 1942, has worked as a travel guide in Rome and as a copywriter in London. She taught literature in universities in Iran, China, and Saudi Arabia. Commissario Brunetti made her books world-famous. Donna Leon lived in Italy for many years, and although she now lives in Switzerland, she often visits Venice.