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Donna Leon’s Commissario Brunetti Books in Order | Series List
Looking for Donna Leon’s Brunetti books in order? Look no further!
Guido Brunetti, Commissario of Police in Venice, Italy, is the star of Donna Leon’s hugely successful Commissario Brunetti mystery series.
Since his debut over thirty years ago in Death At La Fenice, Brunetti has investigated a new crime in Venice each year, from corruption to mafia, real estate to trade art, collecting millions of fans around the world in that time.
If it’s high-end crime stories with an innate understanding of the perpetrator and victim you’re after, then look no further. Here are Donna Leon’s Commissario Brunetti books in order.
Commissario Brunetti books in order: the complete series:
Death at la Fenice by Donna Leon
The twisted maze of Venice’s canals has always been shrouded in mystery. Even the celebrated opera house, La Fenice, has seen its share of death – but none so horrific and violent as that of world-famous conductor, Maestro Helmut Wellauer, who was poisoned during a performance of La Traviata. Even Commissario of Police, Guido Brunetti, used to the labyrinthine corruptions of the city, is shocked at the number of enemies Wellauer has made on his way to the top – but just how many have motive enough for murder?
The beauty of Venice is crumbling. But evil is one thing that will never erode with age.
Death in a Strange Country by Donna Leon
Early one morning Brunetti confronts a grisly sight when the body of a young man is fished out of a fetid Venetian canal. All the clues point to a violent mugging, but for Brunetti, robbery seems altogether too convenient a motive.
Then something very incriminating is discovered in the dead man’s flat – something which points to the existence of a high-level cabal – and Brunetti becomes convinced that somebody, somewhere, is taking great pains to provide a ready-made solution to the crime.
The Anonymous Venetian by Donna Leon
Brunetti’s hopes of a refreshing family holiday in the mountains are once again dashed when a gruesome discovery is made in Marghera – a body so badly beaten the face is unrecognizable. Brunetti searches Venice for someone who can identify the dead man. But he is met with a wall of silence.
Then he receives a telephone call from a contact who promises some tantalizing information. And before the night is out Brunetti is confronting yet another appalling and apparently senseless death.
A Venetian Reckoning by Donna Leon
A lorry crashes on one of the treacherous bends in the Italian Dolomites, spilling a terrible cargo. A prominent international layer is found dead in the carriage of an intercity train at Saint Lucia. Can the two tragedies possibly be connected?
Brunetti digs deep into the secret lives of the once great and good for the answer. For in a seedy Venetian bar lies the clue to an evil crime network reaching far beyond the laguna. But it will take another violent death in Venice before the forces of justice can even begin to proceed.
Acqua Alta by Donna Leon
5. Aqua Alta
Brunetti 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…
The Death of Faith by Donna Leon
Brunetti is kicking his heels, pondering the recent lack of crime in Venice, when a beautiful young woman appears at his office door. Now calling herself Maria Testa, his visitor is more familiar to Brunetti as Suor’lmmacolata, the nun who once cared for his mother at the casa di cura in Dolo. But Maria has recently left her convent after the unexpected deaths of five patients.
Brunetti offers to make some enquiries, but finds now obvious cause for concern. Is Maria simply creating fears to justify abandoning her vocation? Or has she stumbled on to a deeply rooted, far more sinister scenario – and put her own life in very grave danger?
A Noble Radiance by Donna Leon
In a small village at the foot of the Italian Dolomites, the gardens of a deserted farmhouse have lain untouched for decades. But the new owner, keen for renovations to begin, is summoned urgently to the house when his workmen disturb a macabre grave.
Wild animals have done their grisly work and the human corpse is badly decomposed. Then a valuable signet ring is found close by, providing the first vital clue. It leads Brunetti right to the heart of aristocratic Venice, to a family still grieving for its abducted son.
Fatal Remedies by Donna Leon
A sudden act of vandalism had just been committed in the chill Venetian dawn. But Brunetti soon finds out that the perpetrator is no petty criminal. For the culprit waiting to be apprehended at the scene of the crime is none other than Paola Brunetti, his wife.
As Paola’s actions provoke a crisis in the Brunetti household, Brunetti himself is under increasing pressure at work: a daring robbery with Mafia connections is linked to a suspicious death and his superiors need quick results. As his professional and personal lives clash, Brunetti’s own career is under threat – and the conspiracy which Paola had risked everything to expose draws him inexorably to the brink.
Friends in High Places by Donna Leon
When Brunetti is visited by a young bureaucrat investigating the lack of official approval for the building of his apartment years earlier, his first reaction, like any other Venetian, is to think of whom he knows who might bring pressure to bear on the relevant government department.
But when the bureaucrat rings Brunetti at work, clearly scared, and is then found dead after a fall from scaffolding, something is obviously going on that has implications greater than the fate of Brunetti’s apartment.
A Sea of Troubles by Donna Leon
The murder of two clam fishermen off the island of Pellestrina, south of the Lido on the Venetian lagoon, draws Brunetti into the close-knit community of the island, bound together by a code of loyalty and a suspicion of outsiders worthy of the Mafia.
When the boss’ secretary Signorina Elettra volunteers to visit the island, where she has relatives, Brunetti finds himself torn between his duty to solve the murders, concerns for Elettra’s safety, and his not entirely straightforward feelings for her…
Wilful Behaviour by Donna Leon
11. Wilful Behaviour
When Brunetti receives a visit from one of his wife’s students with a strange and vague interest in investigating the possibility of a pardon for a crime committed by her grandfather many years ago, he thinks little of it, despite being intrigued by the girl’s intelligence and moral conscience. But when the girl is found stabbed to death, Claudia Leonardo is no longer Paola’s student, but instead becomes Brunetti’s case.
Claudia seemed to have no discernible living family, but lived with an elderly Austrian woman. Brunetti is stunned by the extraordinary art collection the old woman keeps, and when she in turn is found dead, the case begins to unlock long buried secrets of collaboration during the war, secrets few in Italy are happy to explore…
Uniform Justice by Donna Leon
12. Uniform Justice
Neither Brunetti nor his wife Paola have ever had much sympathy for the Italian armed forces, so when a young cadet is found hanged, at Venice’s elite military academy, Brunetti’s emotions are complex: pity and sorrow at the death of a boy close in age to his own son, and contempt and irritation for the arrogance and high-handedness of the boy’s teachers and fellow students.
The young man is the son of an ex-politician, a man of an impeccable integrity all too rare in Italian politics. But as Brunetti – and the indispensable Signorina Elettra – investigate further, no one seems willing to talk, as the military protects its own and civilians keep their own counsel. Is this the natural reluctance of Italians to involve themselves with the authorities, or is Brunetti facing a conspiracy of silence?
Doctored Evidence by Donna Leon
When a wealthy Venetian woman is found brutally murdered, the prime suspect is her Romanian maid, who has fled the city. As she attempts to leave the country, carrying a considerable sum of money and forged papers, the maid runs into the path of an oncoming train and is killed. Case closed.
But when the old woman’s neighbour returns from abroad, it becomes clear that the maid could not have been the killer. Brunetti decides – unofficially – to take the case on himself.
As Brunetti investigates, it becomes clear that the motive for the murder was unlikely to have been greed, rather that it had its roots in the temptations of lust. But perhaps Brunetti is thinking of the wrong deadly sin altogether…
Blood From A Stone by Donna Leon
On a cold night shortly before Christmas, an immigrant street vendor is killed in Venice’s Campo Santo Stefano. The nearest witnesses to the event are the tourists who had been browsing the man’s wares before his death – fake handbags of every designer label – but they have seen nothing that might be of much help to the police.
When Brunetti arrives on the scene, he finds it hard to understand why anyone would murder an illegal immigrant. They have few social connections and little money; in-fighting among them is the obvious answer. But once Brunetti begins investigating this unfamiliar Venetian underworld, he discovers that matters of great value are at stake in the immigrant community…
Through A Glass Darkly by Donna Leon
It is a luminous spring day in Venice, as Brunetti and Vianello come to the rescue of Vianello’s friend Marco Ribetti, who has been arrested while protesting against chemical pollution of the Venetian lagoon, only to be faced by the fury of Marco’s father-in-law, owner of a glass factory on the island of Murano.
But clearly there is another victim who has uncovered the guilty secret of the polluting glass foundries of the island of Murano, and whose body is found dead in front of the furnaces which burn at 1400 degrees, night and day. The victim has left clues in a copy of Dante and Brunetti must descend into an inferno to discover who is burning the land and fouling the waters of the lagoon. A man is dead – but will politics and expedience prevent the killer from striking again?
Suffer the Little Children by Donna Leon
16. Suffer the Little Children
When Brunetti is summoned to the hospital bedside of a senior paediatrician whose skull has been brutally fractured, he is confronted with more questions than answers. Three men have burst into the doctor’s apartment in the middle of the night, attacked him and took his 18-month-old son – but why? As he investigates, Brunetti finds infertility, desperation, and babies for sale.
Meanwhile, Inspector Vianello uncovers a scam between pharmacists and doctors in the city. And certain information about one’s neighbours can lead to all kinds of corruption and all sorts of pain…
The Girl of His Dreams by Donna Leon
One rainy morning Brunetti and Ispettore Vianello respond to an emergency call reporting a body floating near some steps on the Grand Canal. Reaching down to pull it out, Brunetti’s wrist is caught by the silkiness of golden hair, and he sees a small foot – together he and Vianello lift a dead girl from the water.
But, inconceivably, no one has reported a missing child, nor the theft of the gold jewellery that she carries. Brunetti is drawn into a search not only for the cause of her death but also for her identity, her family, and for the secrets that people will keep in order to protect their children – be they innocent or guilty.
From the canals and palazzi of Venice to a gypsy encampment on the mainland, Brunetti struggles with institutional prejudice and entrenched criminality to try to unravel the fate of the dead child.
About Face by Donna Leon
18. About Face
At a dinner party given by his parents-in-law, Brunetti meets Franca Marinello, the wife of a prosperous Venetian businessman. He’s charmed – perhaps too charmed, suggests his wife Paola – by her love of Virgil and Cicero, but shocked by her appearance.
A few days later, Brunetti is visited by Carabinieri Maggior Filippo Guarino from the nearby city of Marghera. As part of a wider investigation into Mafia takeovers of businesses in the region, Guarino wants information about the owner of a trucking company who was found murdered in his office. He believes the man’s death is connected to the illegal transportation of refuse – and more sinister material – in his company’s trucks. No stranger to mutual suspicion and competition between rival Italian police departments, Brunetti is nevertheless puzzled by the younger man’s behaviour.
Eventually Guarino agrees to email a photo of his suspect, but by the time the photograph arrives, he himself is dead. Was he killed because he got too close? And how is it that Franca Marinello is involved?
A Question of Belief by Donna Leon
As Venice experiences a debilitating heatwave, Brunetti escapes the city to spend time with his family. For Ispettore Vianello, however, the weather is the last thing on his mind. It appears his aunt has become obsessed with horoscopes and has been withdrawing large amounts of money from the family business. Not knowing what to do, he consults Brunetti and asks permission to trail her.
Meanwhile, Brunetti receives a visit from a friend who works at the Commune. It seems that discrepancies have been occurring at the Courthouse involving a judge and an usher with a flawless track record. Intrigued, Brunetti asks Signorina Elettra to find out what she can while he’s away.
When news reaches Brunetti that the usher from the Courthouse has been viciously murdered, he returns to investigate. But why would someone want a good man dead, and what might his death have to do with the Courthouse discrepancies?
Drawing Conclusions by Donna Leon
A young woman returns from holiday to find her elderly neighbour dead on the floor. A heart attack seems the likely cause, but Brunetti is not so sure and decides to take a closer look. Soon he discovers that she was part of an organization that cares for abused women and that her apartment was a safe-house.
Convinced that this is the lead he has been looking for, Brunetti begins his search for answers. But as he sets out to discover the truth behind her death, he is drawn into a decades-old story of lies and deceit that has blighted love and ruined lives – and has claimed this innocent woman as its newest victim. Brunetti’s investigation takes him deep into the dark heart of his beloved Venice.
Beastly Things by Donna Leon
21. Beastly Things
When a body is found floating in a canal, strangely disfigured and with multiple stab wounds, Brunetti is called to investigate and is convinced he recognises the man from somewhere. However, with no identification except for the distinctive shoes the man was wearing, and no reports of people missing from the Venice area, the case cannot progress.
Brunetti soon realises why he remembers the dead man, and asks Signorina Elettra if she can help him find footage of a farmers’ protest the previous autumn. But what was his involvement with the protest, and what does it have to do with his murder? Acting on the fragile lead, Brunetti and Ispettore Vianello set out to uncover the man’s identity. Their investigation eventually takes them to a slaughterhouse on the mainland, where they discover the origin of the crime, and the world of blackmail and corruption that surrounds it.
The Golden Egg by Donna Leon
22. The Golden Egg
When making routine enquiries into a possible bribery case that could embarrass the mayor – a humiliation Vice-Questore Patta is very keen to avoid – Brunetti receives a call from his wife, Paola, who is evidently very upset. The middle-aged deaf mute with the mental age of a child who helped out at the Brunetti’s dry cleaners has been found dead – an ‘accidental’ overdose of his mother’s sleeping pills – and Paola is distraught by the news. To the neighbourhood he was just the ‘boy’ who helped out, but nobody knew much about him – not even his name. That a soul could have lived such a joyless life is too much for Paola to bear, and she asks Guido if he can find out what happened.
It is a surprise to Brunetti just how little was known about this man-child – there are no official records to show he even existed. The man’s mother is angry and contradictory when questioned about his death, and Brunetti senses that there much more to the story than she is willing to tell. With the help of Inspector Vianello and the ever-resourceful Signorina Elettra, perhaps Brunetti can get to the truth and find some measure of solace.
By Its Cover by Donna Leon
23. By Its Cover
When several valuable antiquarian books go missing from a prestigious library in the heart of Venice, Brunetti is immediately called to the scene. The staff suspect an American researcher has stolen them, but for Brunetti something doesn’t quite add up. Taking on the case, the Commissario begins to seek information about some of the library’s regulars, such as the ex-priest Franchini, a passionate reader of ancient Christian literature, and Contessa Morosini-Albani, the library’s chief donor, and comes to the conclusion that the thief could not have acted alone.
However, when Franchini is found murdered in his home, the case takes a more sinister turn and soon Brunetti finds himself submerged in the dark secrets of the black market of antiquarian books. Alongside his ever-faithful team of Ispettore Vianello and Signorina Elettra, he delves into the pages of Franchini’s past and into the mind of a book thief in order to uncover the terrible truth.
Falling In Love by Donna Leon
24. Falling In Love
In Death at La Fenice, Donna Leon’s first novel in the series, we were introduced to the glamorous and cut-throat world of opera and to one of Italy’s finest living sopranos, Flavia Petrelli – then a suspect in the poisoning of a renowned German conductor. Now, many years after Brunetti cleared her name, Flavia has returned to the illustrious La Fenice to sing the lead in Tosca.
As an opera superstar, Flavia is well acquainted with attention from adoring fans and aspiring singers. But when one anonymous admirer inundates her with bouquets of yellow roses – on stage, in her dressing room and even inside her locked apartment – it becomes clear that this fan has become a potentially dangerous stalker. Distraught, Flavia turns to an old friend for help. Familiar with Flavia’s melodramatic temperament, Commissario Brunetti is at first unperturbed by her story, but when another young opera singer is attacked he begins to think Flavia’s fears may be justified. In order to keep his friend out of danger, Brunetti must enter the psyche of an obsessive fan and find the culprit before anyone comes to harm.
The Waters of Eternal Youth by Donna Leon
25. The Waters of Eternal Youth
Brunetti is investigating a cold case by request of the grand Contessa Lando-Continui, a friend of Brunetti’s mother-in-law. Fifteen years ago the Contessa’s teenage granddaughter, Manuela, was found drowning in a canal. She was rescued from the canal at the last moment, but in many ways it was too late; she suffered severe brain damage and her life was never the same again. Once a passionate horse rider, Manuela, now aged thirty, cannot remember the accident, or her beloved horse, and lives trapped in an eternal youth.
The Contessa, unconvinced that this was an accident, implores Brunetti to find the culprit she believes was responsible for ruining Manuela’s life. Out of a mixture of curiosity, pity and a willingness to fulfil the wishes of a loving grandmother, Brunetti reopens the case. But once he starts to investigate, Brunetti finds a murky past and a dark story at its heart.
Earthly Remains by Donna Leon
26. Earthly Remains
During the interrogation of an entitled, arrogant man suspected of giving drugs to a young girl who then died, Brunetti acts rashly, doing something he will quickly come to regret. In the aftermath, he begins to doubt his career choices and realises that he needs a break from the stifling problems of his work.
Granted leave from the Questura, Brunetti is shipped off by his wife, Paola, to a villa owned by a wealthy relative on Sant’Erasmo, one of the largest islands in the Venetian laguna. There he intends to pass his days rowing, and his nights reading Pliny’s Natural History.
The recuperative stay goes according to plan and Brunetti is finally able to relax, until Davide Casati, the caretaker of the house, goes missing following a sudden storm. Nobody can find him – not his daughter, not his friends, and not the woman he’d been secretly visiting. Now, Brunetti feels compelled to investigate, to set aside his holiday and discover what happened to the man who had recently become his friend.
The Temptation of Forgiveness by Donna Leon
27. The Temptation of Forgiveness
When important information is leaked from inside the Venetian Questura, Commissario Guido Brunetti is entrusted with the task of uncovering which of his colleagues is responsible. But before Brunetti can begin his investigation, he is surprised by the appearance in his office of a friend of his wife’s, who is fearful that her son is using drugs. A few weeks later, Tullio Gasparini, the woman’s husband, is found unconscious with a serious head injury at the foot of a bridge, and Brunetti is drawn to pursue a possible connection to the boy’s behaviour. But the truth is not straightforward.
Following various contradictory leads, Brunetti navigates his way through a world of mysterious informants, underground deals and secret longstanding scam networks, all the while growing ever more impressed by the intuition of his fellow Commissario, Claudia Griffoni, and by the endless resourcefulness of Signorina Elettra, Vice-Questore Patta’s secretary and gate-keeper.
With Gasparini’s condition showing no signs of improvement, and his investigations leading nowhere, Brunetti is steadied by the embrace of his own family and by his passion for the classics. He turns to Sophocles’s Antigone in an attempt to understand the true purpose of justice, and, in its light, he is forced to consider the terrible consequences to which the actions of a tender heart can lead.
Unto Us A Son is Given by Donna Leon
As a favour to his wealthy father-in-law, the Count Falier, Commissario Guido Brunetti agrees to investigate the seemingly innocent wish of the Count’s best friend, the elderly and childless Gonzalo, to adopt a younger man as his son. Under Italian inheritance laws, this man would become the sole heir to Gonzalo’s substantial fortune, something which Gonzalo’s friends, including the Count, find appalling. For his part, Brunetti wonders why the old man can’t be allowed his pleasure in peace.
Not long after Brunetti meets with Gonzalo, the elderly man unexpectedly passes away from natural causes. Old and frail, Gonzalo’s death goes unquestioned, and a few of his oldest friends gather in Venice to plan the memorial service.
But when Berta, a striking woman and one of Gonzalo’s closest confidantes, is strangled in her hotel room, Brunetti is drawn into long-buried secrets from Gonzalo’s past. What did Berta know? And who would go to such lengths to ensure it would remain hidden?
Trace Elements by Donna Leon
29. Trace Elements
When Dottoressa Donato calls the Questura to report that a dying patient at the hospice Fatebenefratelli wants to speak to the police, Commissario Guido Brunetti and his colleague, Claudia Griffoni, waste no time in responding.
‘They killed him. It was bad money.’ A dying hospice patient gasps these cryptic words about her recently-deceased husband. Brunetti softly promises he will look into what appears to be a private family tragedy. He discovers that her husband worked for a company that monitored the cleanliness of Venice’s water supply and that he had died in a motorcycle accident.
Distracted briefly by Vice Questore Patta’s obsession with youth crime in Venice, Brunetti turns to the remarkable research skills of Patta’s secretary, Signora Elettra Zorzi. With her help, Brunetti comes to realize the perilous meaning in the dying woman’s accusation and the threat it reveals to the health of the entire region.
Transient Desires by Donna Leon
In his many years as a Commissario, Guido Brunetti has seen all manner of crime and known intuitively how to navigate the various pathways in his native Venice to discover the person responsible. Now, in the thirtieth novel in Donna Leon’s masterful series, he faces a heinous crime committed outside his jurisdiction. He is drawn in innocently enough: two young American women have been badly injured in a boating accident, joy riding in the Laguna with two young Italians. However, Brunetti’s curiosity is aroused by the behaviour of the young men, who abandoned the victims after taking them to the hospital. If the injuries were the result of an accident, why did they want to avoid association with it?
As Brunetti and his colleague, Claudia Griffoni, investigate the incident, they discover that one of the young men works for a man rumoured to be involved in more sinister night-time activities in the Laguna. To get to the bottom of what proves to be a gut-wrenching case, Brunetti needs to enlist the help of both the Carabinieri and the Guardia di Costiera. Determining how much trust he and Griffoni can put in these unfamiliar colleagues adds to the difficulty of solving a peculiarly horrible crime whose perpetrators are technologically brilliant and ruthlessly organised.
Give Unto Others by Donna Leon
31. Give Unto Others
The gifted Venetian detective returns in his thirty-first case – this time, investigating the Janus-faced nature of yet another Italian institution. Brunetti will have to once again face the blurred line that runs between the criminal and the non-criminal, bending police rules, and his own character, to help an acquaintance in danger.
So Shall You Reap by Donna Leon
Guido Brunetti is assigned to investigate the murder of an undocumented Sri Lankan immigrant. Because no official record of the man’s presence in Venice exists, Brunetti is forced to use the city’s far richer sources of information: gossip and the memories of people who knew the victim.
As the investigation expands, Brunetti and his colleagues assemble what seems like random information about real estate, land use, books and university friendships. Until Brunetti stumbles over something that transports him back to his own student days, causing him to reflect on lost ideals and the errors of youth, on Italian politics and history, and on the accidents that sometimes lead to revelation.
A Refiner's Fire by Donna Leon
33. A Refiner’s Fire
When two teenage gangs are arrested after clashing violently in one of Venice’s campi, the son of a local hero is implicated. But when Commissario Guido Brunetti is asked by a wealthy foreigner to vet this man, Monforte, for a job, he discovers that Monforte might not be such a hero after all.
This seeming contradiction, and a brutal attack on one of Brunetti’s colleagues by a possible gang member, concentrate Brunetti’s attentions. Soon, he discovers the sordid hypocrisy surrounding Monforte’s past, culminating in a fiery meeting of two gangs and a final opportunity for redemption.
There you have it – Donna Leon’s Commissario Brunetti books in order! How many have you read? Let us know in the comments below…
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Just finished my last remaining Brunetti – Death by Judgement ( A Venetian Reckoning) . How am I going to manage the wait ‘til July ?
I just started A Noble Radiance and am so happy to have so many more Brunetti novels to look forward to reading in the future. I am addicted!!!!
Fabulous serie.Love to follow The Brunetti family.I ‘ve read them all and am eager to read the next one.
I have read all except the last 2. They reflect the scope encompassing all that is present in the human condition – joy at our ultimate goodness, despair and anger at the perfidious. The often elegiac yearning for a simpler Venice, absent of the tourist hordes (such as me!) never gets in the way of the beauty of the walk home. True literate gems – I love them.
Ms. Leone’s Brunetti series reminds me of an beautiful antique mirror which is missing some of its’ reflective surface. Intriguing and real!!
Read them all and just starting “So Shall You Reap”. Fabulous series and look forward to each new book.
Listen to Donna Leon talk about her life and work on BBC Radio 4, “This Cultural Life”; https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001lhkp
29 Apr 2023. Available for over a year
I have read and own every book in paperback and am eagerly waiting for number 32. If I were to “meet” Brunetti, I am sure I would like him. It will be like catching up with an old friend when he returns. Have learned a lot about Venice throughout this great series
I re-read the first 6 and am now working my way through the rest as I can get them from the library. I love these stories! I visited Venice in 2003 and it was magical! I relive that visit with each book. I love the family connection in each story and Guido’s humanity. Thank you, Donna Leon for giving us such a wonderful character!
Earthly Remains is my favourite. Ms Leon strayed from Brunetti once in a while but there’s nothing like a tramezzino with Guido on the way to another mystery and a Greek drama he is reading. Although Paula could be just a tiny bit little less perfect. 😉
I have got up to number 20 and now am beginning to wonder whether I should postpone the gratification of reading the next so as to delay the moment when there are no more.
I read them all, and the first dozen twice. We followed his walks in our second trip to Venice, walked by the Questura and tried to place his “apartment” from the ground.
If you are missing a book, try to get it second hand. Be careful because a couple has more than one name, I bought one twice. The library, for some reason do not keep the old books, when I convinced my husband to read them they were gone and we had to buy them.
I’ve read 31 and am desperately waiting for number 32
Read the lot and just finished ‘Give unto others’, as great as ever but one complaint – no food until page 67 and only one meal description!
Still can’t understand why Brett wasn’t ‘charged’ with Salvatore’s death as his body was right there.
Loving the books and adore Venice.
Heartiest congratulations to the queen of mysteries, Donna Leon!
I’m reading The Golden Egg now, and it makes me rather sad to know there are only nine left. 🙁
A writer who has expertly woven her readings into hard to put down novels. Her flawless use of English shines through every page. I’m hoping that Brunetti will one day vanish into the realm of fictional characters that have no ending. Donna Leon is a true master
Wish they would make a TV series in English of some at least, of the Donna Leon books.
I have all but eight. Earthly Remains is the best. I was left with the question “There is another book at the end of this one”. I visited Venice before I discovered Donna Leon. Been four times and love reading about areas of Venice I have visited. There is nothing too graphic or horrific about the books and you are inspired by the importance of family.
The first 29. I didn’t know about 30 and 31. That will be remedied soon,
I’ve read 29. Love these books and the fact there are street maps in them!
The Jewels of Paradise doesn’t seem to be on your list (I think it came after Beastly Things and before By Its Cover). Was there a title change or what?
Hello! The Jewels of Paradise is a standalone book rather than a Guido Brunetti novel. Hope this helps 🙂
A review in “The Times” led me to this author. Thanks to “The Thunderer”! Started at no 1 and now up to number 8. Can’t get them quickly enough from the library. What a find.
All. And all the Montalbano stories and novels too, in English. That’s what a pandemic and a good public library will do for a person. Oh, and all of both series of DVD’s, of which the Montalbanos are so much better, much closer to Camilleri’s originals and not auf Deutsch. Your choice, Venice or Vigata.
Have finished reading the 5 most recent novels. Now, I will start at #1. I’m addicted. I love her books. O hope the story of a couple of the characters in Transient Desires are taken up in the next novel. Does she ever do something like that?
What a terrific gift to all of us, this Donna Leon. Her characters are believable and afford us an education into Italian and particularly Venice, life. Hope she continues on with Brunetti and company.
Just finished Transient Desires. Hopefully more to come. Enjoyable as usual. Have been to Venice starting in 1963 and lastly in 2017. And yes unfortunately it’s overcrowded and unless they reduce the cruise ships I think it will be the end.
At age 84 and a literature major of yesteryear, I have never enjoyed reading and re-reading any author as much as Donna Leon. Brilliant character development and sophisticated dialogue.
I think I agree with all of the above comments! Enduring a pretty strict lockdown and also recovering from a few medical problems , I have been so happy to retreat into the World of Brunetti’s Venice . It has given me so much pleasure … Thank you Donna! I sincerely hope that you will write some more!xx
I have read all but 2 that I haven’t been able to locate. Most of them I have read several times. There is so much to enjoy. I find them inspirational, even to adding titles to my reading list based on the books mentioned and cooking the food. Wonderful series.
I have read them all. And the books about Venetian cooking. The Brunetti walks in Venice were most enjoyable too. I have also seen the 18 episodes on dvd produced in Germany. What a pity they have not been released in the UK. I look forward to the next book, as they are the best crime fiction I have ever read. Thank you Donna Leon!
I’ve read all 30 books at least twice and been inspired to visit Venice two times. I love Leon’s writing, characters and Venice. Thank you, Donna, for many hours of pleasure
Thank you, Donna Leon, for these wonderful Brunetti stories. I have read all of them, having just finished “Trace Elements.” I have also read four other of your books and enjoyed their accompanying CDs: “Handel’s Bestiary”, “Venetian Curiosities”, “My Venice and Other Essays.” I’ve been to Venice three times, happen to love attending operas in Chicago as well as fine music by our Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
I endorse all of the above comments. Donna not only writes super Brunetti stories, she writes them with beautifully constructed English, which, along with the clever plots, make them highly addictive!
Keep them coming Donna – please!
I have read 23 and I am pacing myself for the rest. I have been to Venice twice and these books take me back every time I open one. Thank you so much.
I read them all, being born, raised and living in Venice I am interested in a foreigner’s point of view of my birthplace. It’s infortunate that these books are not translated into Italian, but I understand it might be easier to address this fiction to non resident readers.
Death and Judgment seems not to be on this list. Was it published initially under a different name? Or did I just miss it?
Hi Joan! I believe this is book four, A Venetian Reckoning – looks like it has a different title in the US.
I have read 20 of these books, not in order. You really don’t have to read them in order. I have found them to be very addictive. I installed an English/Italian pronouncing dictionary on my phone to make sure that I’m not missing anything. As you can see, by my last name, I have a head start. Thank you Donna Leon.
Just finished Transient Desires and loved it as much as all the others. I have never been to Venice Italy but I do live in Venice CA.
I am so in love with this city because of seeing it through Brunetti’s eyes.
My husband and I hoped to visit it this year but are sad to hear that Italy has been forced into another shut down.
These are brilliant crime novels but it is the life and times of the characters that has made me a huge fan. Please keep writing this series Donna Leon. I feel that you love your characters and so we do too! I am now about to go back to the beginning snd start again. I’m cooking my way through the Brunetti recipe book😁
I was a late starter but I believe I have read them all. They are all very good. Several are my favorites and just a couple are good but don’t dazzle. If in the next life I have to come back as somebody else I’d comeback as Commissario Brunetti. And yes I’d live in Venice. He is not religious but lives as people should live. Every March I now look forward to Donna Leon’s new book..
Read all of them – addictively! Looking forward to Transient Desires – coming next month. Donna Leon combines intrigue, thrill, history, politics, friendship, love … and gets wittier and wittier. Sometimes I laugh out loud as she describes Brunetti’s inner world – especially in conversation with the Voce Questure.
I have read all of her books. I LOVED each and everyone. I’m always anxious for the next one to appear ! I being to Venice twice and and I can relate to the settings which each book takes place. I love Brunetti and his family.
Thanks Donna for the entertainment.
Absolute joys – each and every title. And then I found the episodes made for tv and my joy runneth over! Guido is fantastic as is all his life touches.
Thank you, Donna.
Just finished Trace Elements which is the complete series so far. Not only are the stories entertaining and unputdownable but Donna Leon speaks through Commissario Brunetti with an interesting take on Italian ways and attitudes. Particularly his irreverent views on Italian politicians and his Vice Questore
I’ve read them all now, and what I treasure most is the sheer human-ness of the Commissario. People can be good and noble, and Brunetti shows how.
I have read everyone of Donna,s bookz. I adored the Guido Brunetti series and was heartbroken to come to the end. I passed all the books on to family so I think I will now have to buy them all again to start re reading from the beghinning. so very enjoyable I feel like I know the characters so well.
More please ??
Wonderful books – so much atmosphere have loved them all except Trace Elements and am looking forward to that one. Keep on writing!
To be truthful, her books are the only books I look forward to. I hope there are a few more before she stops.
Donna, please thank Commissario Brunetti for making me keen to read the books he reads – I have discovered the fascinating world of the classics!
Je les ai tous lus, en anglais, et suis en train de les relire tous dans l’ordre.
Le problème quand on les commande par internet les titres anglais et américains sont différents : j’ai donc des doubles que je donne à la bibliothèque de mon village en Bretagne.
J’aime Brunetti et sa petite famille mais surtout beaucoup les descriptions de Venise
I was given a gift of ” Death at La Fenice.” Since then, i have read everything she has written.
I am waiting on The Trace Elements.
Love her books.
I have read all the Brunetti books and enjoyed them
all. I own an 18th century etching of Venice. It is an
allegorical female figure of Venice rising in the lagoon
with the city of Venice in the background. I think it
would make a swell book cover for a future story.
I have read several and I am now buying, and reading them in order
I have read all of her books. I think she is brilliant
Thank you, Donna Leon, for the wonderful Brunetti books. I love them and have read 26 of them and intend to read them all! He, his family and his work colleagues are such wonderful characters, I feel as though I know them all. And the food that Senora Brunetti prepares……mmmm, amazing. I can taste it all!
Cannot wait for the next one, read them all and watched the ones which were turned into movies…
I have read all her books and have my favorites; The Girl of His Dreams and Through A Glass Darkly are two. Am now reading Trace Elements and look forward to her Brunetti plott during the Covid 19 crisis in northern Italy.
I have read all but the latest. Love every one.
I have read all of them in chronological order except the last two which I’m about to start. I love them ! The characters, the setting, the glimpse of family life and the plots.
Thank you Donna Leon for giving me such pleasure in reading your wonderful Brunetti stories. I’ve been to Venice many times and every one of your books brings back such happy memories.
I have read them all. Just finished the latest ‘Unto Us A Son Is Given’. Enjoyed it very much. I felt Brunetti worked a bit harder in this story!
My husband has read them all too and I also pass them on to a friend. She has to give me them back though as I know I’ll read them all again in order in perhaps a few years time.
All of them, incl the latest and now starting again – they are superb and I am addicted!
I have read all of her books at least 4 times. Every time a new book comes out I reread the series to keep my mind back in Venice. Love her and her atavistic ways. (Her favorite word)
An amazing body of work; twenty eight brilliant stories. An interesting hero, his family and friends, and an unfogettable city – Venice. Wonderful.
My mum died in 2015…I went to France to try and relax..I met a woman who told me about Donna Leon ..I walked for miles to find a book shop that sold Donna Leon in English…I was hooked …I can read nothing else ..she has walked me through grief and I go to bed at night happy in the fact that Brunetti his family pals and food are all there waiting on me…I’m on to number 16 …my saviour!
I take Commissario Brunetti to bed very night..he has walked me through some difficult moments in my life and he is my friend..as is his family his food and his Venice..I have 15 more to read and I savour every minute of the time I spend with them all…
I have read most of them. Only ones left are ‘Waters of Eternal Youth’, ‘The Temptation of Forgiveness’, ‘Unto Us a Son is Given’.
All briliant books.
Please keep writing, Donna
Found Brunetti on cable TV, with english subtitles. Have the last five on order. Have enjoyed all of them. I still am a hard copy lover.
I think we have read and very much enjoyed all of them. We are looking forward to the next. Yes, we love the gradual solving the crime but we also love Brunetti’s interaction with Paulo andbhis family and colleagues at work especially Signorina Elettra. Having read all the books added so much to our visit to Venice. We were encouraged and pleased we got off the beaten track.
I must have read 10 of these. Need to do a bit of catching up!! Great reads, all of them. Reading Brunetti is like catching up with an old friend, who has amazing stories to tell!
I have read all of the books and love them!
Read all of them. She can’t write fast enough!