Doctored Evidence - (The Commissario Guido Brunetti Mysteries) by Donna Leon (Paperback)

About the Book

When the body of an wealthy elderly woman is found, brutally murdered in her Venetian flat, the police suspect her maid, who has disappeared. As the runaway maid's train is leaving Italy for Romania, she is approached by the border police, runs away, and is killed as she crosses the tracks in front of an oncoming train. She has a considerable sum of money on her and her papers are obviously fake. Case closed. But when the old woman's neighbor returns from a business trip in London, it becomes clear that the maid could not have committed the crime. Commissario Guido Brunetti decides - unofficially - to take the case on himself. As Brunetti learns more of the victim's bad character, it appears that the crime may not be motivated by greed after all.

Book Synopsis

"A smart and stylish fast-paced case of intrigue and corruption" in the Venetian-set, New York Times-bestselling mystery series (Los Angeles Times).

After a wealthy elderly woman is found brutally murdered in her Venetian apartment, the police suspect her maid, who has disappeared and is heading for her native Romania. But when it becomes clear the maid could not have had time to kill the old woman before catching her train, Guido Brunetti decides--unofficially--to take on the case himself.

As his wife reads about the seven deadly sins, Brunetti realizes that this is probably not a crime motivated by greed--rather, the motive may have more to do with the temptations of lust. But perhaps Brunetti is following a false trail and thinking of the wrong sin altogether . . .

"The detective's humane police work is disarming, and his ambles through the city are a delight; but it is this peculiar insistence on turning every case into a morality tale that gives Leon's fiction its subtlety and substance and makes us follow Brunetti wherever we must--even into the sea." --The New York Times Book Review

"Holds together as an elegant puzzle, as a character study and as a story of an officer's need to reclaim truth in all its complexities from those who want to find easy answers to life's, and death's, perplexing mysteries." --The Washington Post Book World

"A compelling and intricate series of events as convoluted and intricate as the canals of Venice itself . . . Another expert mystery." --The Baltimore Sun

Review Quotes

"The detective's humane police work is disarming, and his ambles through the city are a delight." --The New York Times Book Review

"An elegant puzzle, as a character study and as a story of an officer's need to reclaim truth in all its complexities from those who want to find easy answers to life's, and death's, perplexing mysteries." --The Washington Post Book World

"Brunetti once again charms his devotees, and fans of Leon will not be disappointed as she crafts yet another expert mystery." -- The Baltimore Sun

"Though the case seems solved, Brunetti tries to uncover the real killer amid stifling heat and intra-office jealousy that is poisonous for him, but vastly entertaining to the reader.... Deeply satisfying and often very funny." --The Miami Herald

"The sophisticated but still moral Brunetti, with his love of food and his loving family, proves a worthy custodian of timeless values and verities." --The Wall Street Journal

"A good old-fashioned mystery. . . . But there is something more to [the novel] than a murder and a search for whodunit- a subtle critique, through Brunetti's eyes, of a society far along in the process of decay." --Philadelphia Inquirer

About the Author

Donna Leon is the author of the international best-selling Commissario Guido Brunetti series. The winner of the CWA Macallan Silver Dagger for Fiction, among other awards, Leon was born in New Jersey and has lived in Venice for thirty years.