I’m hopping around this series, rather than reading it in sequence, but while that can be irritating it can also harbour delights. Like discovering in retrospect the growing respect of Commissario Brunetti for the intelligence and resourcefulness that the elegant Signorina Elettra quietly wields at the Questura from just outside the office of Vice-Questore Patta. Another rare delight a mystery with a tight but battered clump of compassion at its core. Walking around Venice with Guido Brunetti sometimes brings one into contact with desperately undesirable characters but thankfully one is also brought warmly into the lives and homes of his friends.

I just finished this on the 22 October 07 and am planning releasing it at the next Edinburgh Bookcrossing Meet-up on the 14th of November 07.

Book cover text: ‘Brunetti heard a siren shriek out and shatter the tranquillity of the night… It was the siren at San Marco, calling out to the sleeping city the news that the waters were rising: Acqua Alta had begun.’

Commissario Guido Brunetti of the Venice Questura is shocked to hear that Brett Lynch, a friend since a murder case at La Fenice, has suffered a savage beating. The attack, in the beautiful palazzo home of Flavia Petrelli, reigning diva of La Scala, had come with a message: ‘Don’t keep that appointment with Dottor Semenzato.’ Then, with the storm clouds gathering fast over the city, a man’s body is found…

‘Smuggling, sexual betrayal, high-class fakery and of course, mafia money make for a rich brew which froths up to a smashing end and a gruesome death amidst the rising waters… Exactly the right cop for the right city. Long may be walk, or wade, through it.’ Sarah Dunant, Sunday Times.