Doctored Evidence

Doctored Evidence is the 13th book in the Commissario Guido Brunetti mystery series by Donna Leon. I'm enjoying working my way through these books as I come across them. The setting is Venice, and I feel like I'm actually there. The detective is a joy, a family man whose private life and thoughts fill out the story and add to the plot. You can't go wrong here.

from the dust jacket:

The New York Times Book Review has raved that Donna Leon's evocative, riveting crime novels "shimmer in the grace of their setting and are warmed by the charm of their characters." Her highly anticipated new novel once again follows Commissario Guido Brunetti through the winding streets of contemporary Venice as he throws open the doors to a case his fellow policemen would rather leave closed.

After the body of a wealthy elderly woman is found brutally murdered in her Venetian apartment, the police suspect her maid, who has disappeared and is heading for her native Romania. When the woman is approached by the border police as her train is leaving Italy, she makes a run for it and is killed as she crosses the tracks. She has a considerable sum of money on her and her papers are obvious forgeries. Case closed.

But when the old woman's neighbor returns from a business in London, it becomes clear that the maid could not have had time to kill the old woman before catching her train and that the money on her was not stolen. Commissario Guido Brunetti decides -unofficially- to take on the case himself.

At home, Brunetti's loving wife, Paola, reads the chapter in her daughter's religious instruction book about the Seven Deadly Sins. As he investigates the case, Brunetti realizes that this is probably not a crime motivated by Greed, rather that the motive may have more to do with the temptations of Lust. But perhaps Brunetti is following a false trail and thinking of the wrong sin altogether.

Doctored Evidence is an impeccable novel of suspense that once more finds Commissario Brunetti and his indispensable aid, Signorina Elettra, navigating the murky backwaters of Venetian society. Donna Leon brilliantly recreates contemporary Venice, showing why she has been praised around the world as a masterful storyteller.

I have also read these:

#1 Death at La Fenice (1992)
#2 Death in a Strange Country (1993)
#3 Dressed for Death (1994)
#4 Death and Judgment (1995)
#18 About Face (2009)
#19 A Question of Belief
#20 Drawing Conclusions