By Its Cover

Name: By Its Cover
Brand: Recorded Books
Availability: InStock
Author: Donna Leon
ISBN: 9781490624051

Author: Donna Leon

Series: Commissario Brunetti Mysteries #23

Narrator: David Colacci

Unabridged: 8 hr 18 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Recorded Books

Published: 04/01/2014

Categories: Fiction, Mystery & Detective, International Crime & Mystery

Synopsis

Donna Leon' s critically acclaimed, internationally bestselling Commissario Guido Brunetti series has attracted readers the world over with the beauty of its setting, the humanity of its characters, and its fearlessness in exploring politics, morality, and contemporary Italian culture. In the pages of Leon' s novels, the beloved conversations of the Brunetti family have drawn on topics of art and literature, but books are at the heart of this novel in a way they never have been before. One afternoon, Commissario Guido Brunetti gets a frantic call from the director of a prestigious Venetian library. Someone has stolen pages out of several rare books. After a round of questioning, the case seems clear: the culprit must be the man who requested the volumes, an American professor from a Kansas university. The only problem-- the man fled the library earlier that day, and after checking his credentials, the American professor doesn' t exist. As the investigation proceeds, the suspects multiply. And when a seemingly harmless theologian, who had spent years reading at the library turns up brutally murdered, Brunetti must question his expectations about what makes a man innocent, or guilty.

About Donna Leon

American author, Donna Leon, has settled nicely into a series of crime novels set in Venice, Italy entitled, Brunettixote. The novels feature the fictional character of Commissario Guido Brunetti.

Leon was born in 1942, and eventually lived in Venice, Italy for over 30 years. She was an English literature lecturer for the University of Maryland in Europe (Italy), and worked on a military base in Italy for several years, before she became a full time writer. She moved to Zurich, Switzerland, and also had a home in a smaller Swiss village.

The novels have been translated from English into several foreign languages, but for some reason the author did not approve them being translated into Italian. German television has shown 22 Commissario Brunetti episodes that they produced for broadcast.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Tina on August 25, 2016

I like these books, but I'm beginning to tire of Leon's increasing tendency to phone them in. This one concerns the theft and/or destruction of ancient, priceless books and manuscripts, a subject that should be close to my heart. Brunetti's apparent ignorance of the subject and his skillful question......more

Goodreads review by Barbara on October 25, 2021

In this 23rd book in the 'Commissario Guido Brunetti' series, the Italian policeman investigates the destruction of valuable old manuscripts and the murder of a former priest. The mystery can be read as a standalone. ***** The Biblioteca Merula in Venice has experienced a terrible desecration: a numbe......more

Goodreads review by Jeff on March 17, 2014

Perhaps I'm simply tiring of Donna Leon's formula, but I found this book to plod along in a too predictable fashion. It has all the expected things of a Commissario Brunetti mystery, including descriptions that make one see Venice through Brunetti's eyes. His interactions with his family and the too......more

Goodreads review by Andrew on January 07, 2015

It’s set in Venice. Much time is spent thinking about drinking coffee or actually drinking coffee. Much of the rest of the time is devoted the consumption of delicious meals. The crime? Well that’s all about books. It ticks most of my boxes – what’s not to like! I look forward each April to the late......more

Goodreads review by سيامك on March 04, 2018

. وندال‌ها به شکل‌های متنوعی کتاب‌ها را سلاخی می‌کنند. کتاب‌رباها نیز با انگیزه‌های مختلفی به این کار دست می‌زنند. «از روی جلد» رمانی معمایی-جنایی درباره وندال‌ها و کتاب‌دزد‌ها است. به کمیسر برونتی خبر می‌دهند که بخشی از مجموعه کتاب‌های نفیس یکی از کتابخانه‌های عمومی ونیز به سرقت رفته و از چند کتاب ن......more