Donna Leon

Name: Death at La Fenice
Author: Donna Leon

American · 1 series

Police procedural International setting Community led

By The Editorial Team · Last reviewed April 2026

Who is Donna Leon?

Donna Leon is an American author who lived in Venice for more than thirty years, and that residency is the foundation of everything she wrote. Her series featuring Commissario Guido Brunetti of the Venice Questura runs to thirty-three novels, published between 1992 and 2023, and it is as much a portrait of a city as it is a sequence of murder investigations.

Brunetti is a thoughtful, deeply humane detective. He is married to Paola, a literature professor with strong opinions, and their household conversations — about Dickens, about corruption, about what their children will inherit — are among the most pleasurable in crime fiction. He investigates Venice’s crimes while being fully embedded in its life: the food, the vaporetti, the labyrinthine bureaucracy, the creeping floods, and the particular sadness of a city that is both magnificent and decaying.

Leon’s Venice is not a postcard. The series returns repeatedly to Italy’s systemic failures — political corruption, environmental damage, the indifference of institutions to the people they are supposed to serve. These themes give the books a weight that sits alongside their warmth, and the combination is distinctive. The cooking and the corruption coexist, as they do in life.

One of the more unusual facts about the series is that for many years Leon refused to allow Italian translations. She wanted to protect her privacy in Venice, and she worried that naming local institutions and describing the city’s politics with candour would make her life there uncomfortable. The Italian editions were eventually permitted, but only after she had left Venice to live in Switzerland. She ended the series in 2023 with Give Unto Others, concluding thirty years of Brunetti on her own terms.

Quick facts

Born: 1942, in Montclair, New Jersey, USA
Nationality: American
Genre: Police procedural, literary crime
Protagonist: Commissario Guido Brunetti, Venice Questura
Setting: Contemporary Venice, Italy
Series length: 33 novels (1992–2023)
Notable: Withheld Italian translation rights for decades

What order should I read Donna Leon’s books?

Read the Commissario Brunetti series in publication order, beginning with Death at La Fenice. Each novel stands alone as a mystery, but Brunetti’s family life, his relationships with colleagues, and his evolving relationship with Venice itself develop across the series in ways that are best experienced from the beginning. Start at the start.

Commissario Brunetti

1
Death at La Fenice (1992)
A famous conductor dies during the interval at La Fenice opera house. Brunetti's first case introduces Venice and the family that will anchor the series.
2
Death in a Strange Country (1993)
An American soldier is found dead in a Venetian canal, and Brunetti must navigate the murky politics of a US military presence in Italy.
3
Dressed for Death (1994)
A body is found on the mainland dressed in women's clothes, and the investigation leads Brunetti into Venice's shadow economy.
4
Death and Judgment (1995)
A truck crash on an Alpine road and the murder of a Venetian lawyer lead Brunetti toward a trafficking operation with powerful protectors.
5
Acqua Alta (1996)
An art historian is beaten in her apartment during Venice's seasonal flooding. Brunetti investigates a case tangled with the museum world and Chinese antiquities.
6
The Death of Faith (1997)
A nurse who cared for the elderly and dying is found dead, and Brunetti must look inside the Church for answers.
7
A Noble Radiance (1998)
The remains of a kidnapped aristocrat are discovered years after his disappearance, buried in a Venetian garden.
8
Fatal Remedies (1999)
Paola is arrested for vandalism at a travel agency. Her protest draws Brunetti into a case involving sex tourism and institutional complicity.
9
Friends in High Places (2000)
A bureaucrat investigating illegal construction in Venice is murdered, and Brunetti discovers that the corruption reaches very high indeed.
10
A Sea of Troubles (2001)
Two fishermen are killed on a lagoon island known for its insularity. Brunetti must go undercover to penetrate a community that trusts no outsiders.
11
Wilful Behaviour (2002)
A young woman asks Brunetti about obtaining a pardon for a wartime crime. Days later she is dead, and her family's past proves dangerous.
12
Uniform Justice (2003)
A cadet at a Venetian military academy is found hanged in his room. The official verdict is suicide; Brunetti is not convinced.
13
Doctored Evidence (2004)
An elderly woman is found beaten to death, and suspicion falls on her Romanian caregiver. Brunetti digs deeper than the obvious answer.
14
Blood from a Stone (2005)
An African street vendor is shot dead near the Rialto Bridge. The investigation leads Brunetti into the international diamond trade.
15
Through a Glass, Darkly (2006)
A worker at a Murano glass factory raises concerns about illegal dumping. He is subsequently framed for a serious crime, and then murder follows.
16
Suffer the Little Children (2007)
A prominent paediatrician is beaten unconscious in his home, and a baby disappears. Brunetti follows the trail into corruption at the heart of Italian medicine.
17
The Girl of His Dreams (2008)
A young Roma girl is found drowned in a Venetian canal, and Brunetti's investigation forces him to confront Italy's treatment of its most marginalised people.
18
About Face (2009)
A socialite at a Venetian dinner party claims to recognise a face from her dark past. When death follows, Brunetti explores the city's waste disposal industry.
19
The Patrician's Daughter (2010)
An old noble family's servant is found dead, and old Venice grudges resurface as Brunetti navigates the city's fading aristocracy.
20
Drawing Conclusions (2011)
An elderly woman is found dead in her apartment. The cause appears natural, but her neighbour's doubts send Brunetti looking for something less innocent.
21
Beastly Things (2012)
An unidentified man is found dead in the Venetian lagoon, and Brunetti traces the victim to a mainland slaughterhouse with secrets worth killing for.
22
The Golden Egg (2013)
A young man who worked in a local dry cleaner's is found dead. He was mute and apparently invisible to the system — no records, no history, no identity.
23
By Its Cover (2014)
Rare pages are discovered missing from precious books in a Venetian library, and the investigation leads Brunetti into the world of rare book theft and forgery.
24
Falling in Love (2015)
A celebrated opera singer receives threatening gifts from an obsessive admirer. Brunetti must identify the stalker before admiration turns violent.
25
The Waters of Eternal Youth (2016)
A young woman was pulled from a canal fifteen years ago. She survived but her mind did not. Her grandmother now wants to know who put her there.
26
Earthly Remains (2017)
Brunetti retreats to an island in the lagoon for rest. But the naturalist he befriends disappears, and the island's ecological secrets prove deadly.
27
The Temptation of Forgiveness (2018)
A woman asks Brunetti to investigate why her husband was found unconscious on a bridge. The trail leads to their son and the city's drug trade.
28
Unto Us a Son Is Given (2019)
An elderly Venetian patriarch announces he intends to adopt a much younger man. Before the deed is done, a member of his circle is murdered.
29
Trace Elements (2020)
A dying woman whispers an accusation about her husband's death from her hospice bed. Brunetti investigates whether she was confessing or accusing.
30
Transient Desires (2021)
Two young women are found injured after a late-night boat accident on the lagoon. What appears to be recklessness conceals something far more deliberate.
31
Give Unto Others (2022)
A man asks Brunetti to look into suspicious charitable donations that may be funding something far less virtuous. The final entry in the series.
32
So Shall You Reap (2023)
A priest's unexpected death draws Brunetti into the world of Venice's remaining farming community on the edges of the lagoon.

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