The 23rd installment in the brilliant Brunetti series from The Sunday Times bestselling author, Donna Leon. A Washington Post Bestseller A New York Times Bestseller 'Inspired by the real-life looting of the Girolamini Library in Naples, this book adds to Donna Leon's best-selling Commissario Guido Brunetti series . . . Leon's description of the setting is vivid' New York Times 'Will both delight and strike fear into bibliophiles' hearts. . . . A finely drawn tale that encompasses theft, blackmail, emotional violence, and ...
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The 23rd installment in the brilliant Brunetti series from The Sunday Times bestselling author, Donna Leon. A Washington Post Bestseller A New York Times Bestseller 'Inspired by the real-life looting of the Girolamini Library in Naples, this book adds to Donna Leon's best-selling Commissario Guido Brunetti series . . . Leon's description of the setting is vivid' New York Times 'Will both delight and strike fear into bibliophiles' hearts. . . . A finely drawn tale that encompasses theft, blackmail, emotional violence, and murder, as well as a rich array of characters . . .' Boston Globe When several valuable antiquarian books go missing from a prestigious library in the heart of Venice, Commissario 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. 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.
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Donna Leon, I think, is the Queen of Atmosphere. Not long after starting one of one of her books, I feel that I am in Venice -- for the good, bad and all. The author has many avocations and I'm so glad she is able to mingle them amongst her mysteries.
This story about rare books is a case-in-point; I spend a great deal of time in libraries and find their special collections of antiquated and rare books to be fascinating. Thus, this story really sparked my interest.
Brunetti gets involved in this case when he is called by a Venice scholarly library reporting the desecration of some rare atlases and ancient books. As Guido is clueless about the value (or why anyone would choose to harm or steal old tomes), he starts a quick study of book thefts. (Oddly enough, my library friends have been talking about the sharp rise in book thefts or damages each year.)
Don't expect any car chases or rushing around; Guido takes his time gathering information. Because Guido and Paola are consummate readers, they value the books for what they can learn from them. However, Guido is surprised to learn that some people only value books as objet d'art (items of beauty or that are interesting).
Signorina Elettra, always worthy of note, plays a very small part in this case. Books get their value from what someone is willing to pay for them, therefore it is very subjective. It is hard to use the Internet to learn much about rare books except for the prices they bring in auctions or sales.
As Brunetti and the library staff try to find the thief or thieves, a murder occurs. Before long, Brunetti figures out that the thefts and murder are related.
