Looks Are Deceiving

Looks Are Deceiving

When Venice Inspector Brunetti meets a fascinating woman at a dinner given by his noble father-in-law, he gets sucked into an intrigue of murder, Mafia and garbage disposal.

Venetian Inspector Brunetti usually loathes formal dinners with his blue-blood father-in-law, Count Falier. But this time, he meets Franca Cataldo, a fascinating woman whose face seems stuck in place after one too many facelifts. Brunetti is impressed by her literary acumen, however, and is eager to keep debating Dante and Ovid with her, to the distress of his wife Paola. Unfortunately, the Commissario has a murder to look after, however: Trucking entrepreneur Ranzato, who was involved in shady garbage-disposal deals with Franca's husband Maurizio, is found murdered. Brunetti is shocked to discover his father-in-law is somehow involved as well, with all clues pointing to the Mafioso Antonio Barbaro, ostensibly a greengrocer - who's having an affair with Franca Cataldo! Brunetti suspects he's blackmailing her, and proposes she turn state's witness against her lover. But Brunetti doesn't realize he's already in too deep in this fishy case, which is about much more than just a pile of garbage?

With her "Inspector Brunetti" crime novels, which have been translated into 20 languages, Venice-based American author Donna Leon has won countless passionate fans all over the world.