Donna Leon has 50 audiobooks on Listento.it, narrated by 31 narrators, with an average listener rating of 4.6★ across 1,322 ratings. The most-rated is Rich Dad's Cashflow Quadrant.
Earthly Remains
Summary
Donna Leon's best-selling mystery novels set in Venice have won a multitude of fans for their insider's portrayal of La Serenissima. From family meals to coffee bars, and from vaporetto rides to the homes and apartments of Venetians, the details and rhythms of everyday life are an integral part of this beloved series. But so are the suffocating corruption, the never-ending influx of tourists, and crimes big and small. Through it all, Leon's Commissario Guido Brunetti has been an enduring figure. A good man who loves his family and his city, Brunetti is relentless in his pursuit of truth and some measure of justice. In Earthly Remains, the 26th novel in this series, Brunetti's endurance is tested more than ever before. During an 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 fallout, he realizes that he needs a break, needs to get away from the stifling problems of his work. When Brunetti is granted leave from the Questura, his wife, Paola, ships him off to a villa owned by a wealthy relative on Sant'Erasmo, one of the largest islands in the laguna. There he intends to pass his days rowing, and his nights reading Pliny's Natural History. The recuperative stay goes according to plan until Davide Casati, the caretaker of the house on Sant'Erasmo, goes missing following a sudden storm. Now, Brunetti feels compelled to investigate, to set aside his leave of absence and understand what happened to the man who had become his friend. Earthly Remains is quintessential Donna Leon, a powerful addition to this enduring series.
©2017 Donna Leon and Diogenes Verlag (P)2017 Recorded Books
By Its Cover
Summary
Donna Leon's critically acclaimed, internationally bestselling Commissario Guido Brunetti series has attracted listeners 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 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.
©2014 Donna Leon and Diogenes Verlag, Zurich (P)2014 Recorded Books
Death and Judgment
Summary
A truck crashes and spills its dangerous cargo on a treacherous road in the Italian Dolomite mountains. Meanwhile, in Santa Lucia, a prominent international lawyer is found dead aboard an intercity train. Suspecting a connection between the two tragedies, Commissario Guido Brunetti digs deep for an answer, stumbling upon a seedy Venetian bar that holds the key to a crime network that reaches far beyond the laguna. But it will take another violent death in Venice before Brunetti and his colleagues begin to understand what is really going on.
©1995 Donna Leon (P)2009 BBC Audio
Drawing Conclusions
Summary
Late one night, Commissario Guido Brunetti's telefonino rings. A woman's body has been found in a Spartan apartment on Campo San Giacomo dell'Orio. Brunetti sees some signs of force on the old woman, but they could just as easily have been from the radiator near where she fell. When the medical examiner rules that the woman died of a heart attack, it seems there is nothing to investigate. But he can't shake the feeling that perhaps the woman was threatened. Conversations with the woman’s son, her upstairs neighbor, and the nun in charge of the old-age home where she volunteered do little to satisfy Brunetti’s nagging curiosity. With the help of Inspector Vianello and the ever-resourceful Signorina Elettra, perhaps Brunetti can get to the truth and find some measure of justice.
©2011 AudioGO (P)2011 Donna Leon and Diogenes Verlag AG Zurich
Belfast Noir
Summary
Launched with the summer '04 award-winning best seller Brooklyn Noir, Akashic Books continues its groundbreaking series of original noir anthologies. Each book is comprised of all-new stories, each one set in a distinct neighborhood or location within the city of the book. Reflecting a city still divided, Belfast Noir serves as a record of a city transitioning to normalcy, or perhaps as a warning that underneath the fragile peace darker forces still lurk. Featuring brand-new stories by: Glenn Patterson, Eoin McNamee, Garbhan Downey, Lee Child, Alex Barclay, Brian McGilloway, Ian McDonald, Arlene Hunt, Ruth Dudley Edwards, Claire McGowan, Steve Cavanagh, Lucy Caldwell, Sam Millar, and Gerard Brennan. From the introduction by Adrian McKinty & Stuart Neville: "Few European cities have had as disturbed and violent a history as Belfast over the last half-century. For much of that time the Troubles (1968–1998) dominated life in Ireland's second-biggest population centre, and during the darkest days of the conflict - in the 1970s and 1980s - riots, bombings, and indiscriminate shootings were tragically commonplace. The British army patrolled the streets in armoured vehicles and civilians were searched for guns and explosives before they were allowed entry into the shopping district of the city centre... Belfast is still a city divided... You can see Belfast's bloodstains up close and personal. This is the city that gave the world its worst ever maritime disaster, and turned it into a tourist attraction; similarly, we are perversely proud of our thousands of murders, our wounds constantly on display. You want noir? How about a painting the size of a house, a portrait of a man known to have murdered at least a dozen human beings in cold blood? Or a similar house-sized gable painting of a zombie marching across a post-apocalyptic wasteland with an AK-47 over the legend UVF: Prepared for Peace - Ready for War. As Lee Child has said, Belfast is still 'the most noir place on earth.'"
©2014 Akashic Books (P)2014 Audible Inc.
The Girl of His Dreams
Summary
On a rainy morning, not long after the funeral of his mother, Commissario Brunetti and Ispettore Vianello respond to a 911 call reporting a body floating near the steps in one of Venice's side canals. 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 jewelry that she carries. So 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. The investigation takes Brunetti from the canals and palazzos of Venice to a Gypsy encampment on the mainland, through quicksands of connections and relationships both known and concealed, as he struggles with both institutional prejudice and entrenched criminality to try to unravel the fate of the dead child.
©2008 Donna Leon and Diogenes Verlag AG Zurich (P)2008 BBC Audiobooks America
Fatal Remedies
Summary
Commissario Guido Brunetti's career is under threat when his professional and personal lives unexpectedly intersect. In the chill of the Venetian dawn, a sudden act of vandalism shatters the quiet of the deserted city, and Brunetti is shocked to find that the culprit waiting to be apprehended at the scene is a member of his own family. Meanwhile, he is also under pressure from his superiors to solve a daring robbery with connections to a suspicious accidental death. Could the two crimes be connected? And will Brunetti be able to prove his family's innocence before it's too late?
©1999 Donna Leon and Diogenes Verlag AG, Zurich. All rights reserved. (P)2012 AudioGo
Uniform Justice
Summary
When Venetian detective Commissario Guido Brunetti is called to investigate a presumed suicide in Venice's elite military academy, his inquiries are immediately met with a wall of silence. The young man is the son of a doctor and former politician, a man of an impeccable integrity all too rare in Italian politics. Dr. Moro seems devastated by his son's death; but while both he and his apparently estranged wife seem convinced that the boy would not have committed suicide, neither appears eager to talk to the police or to involve Brunetti in any kind of investigation into their son's death. Is the silence that confronts Brunetti the natural reluctance of Italians to involve themselves with the authorities, or is he facing a conspiracy far greater than this one death?
©2003 Donna Leon and Diogenes Verlag AG Zurich (P)2004 BBC Audiobooks America
Falling in Love
Summary
Donna Leon's Death at La Fenice, the first novel in her beloved Commissario Guido Brunetti series, introduced listeners to the glamorous and cutthroat world of opera and one of Italy's finest living sopranos, Flavia Petrelli - then a suspect in the poisoning of a renowned German conductor. Years after Brunetti cleared her name, Flavia has returned to Venice and La Fenice to sing the lead in Tosca. Brunetti and his wife, Paola, attend an early performance, and Flavia receives a standing ovation. Back in her dressing room, she finds bouquets of yellow roses - too many roses. Every surface of the room is covered with them. An anonymous fan has been showering Flavia with these beautiful gifts in London, St. Petersburg, Amsterdam, and now Venice, but she no longer feels flattered. A few nights later, invited by Brunetti to dine at his in-laws' palazzo, Flavia confesses her alarm at these excessive displays of adoration. And when a talented young Venetian singer who has caught Flavia's attention is savagely attacked, Brunetti begins to think that Flavia's fears are justified in ways neither of them imagined. He must enter in the psyche of an obsessive fan before Flavia, or anyone else, comes to harm.
©2015 Donna Leon (P)2015 Recorded Books
Blutige Steine. Commissario Brunettis vierzehnter Fall
Summary
Tod eines Schwarzafrikaners auf dem Campo Santo Stefano. Ein Streit unter Immigranten? Oder steckt mehr hinter der Ermordung eines Illegalen? Commissario Brunetti hakt trotz Warnungen von höchster Stelle nach und entdeckt Verbindungen, die weit über Venedig hinausreichen.
(c)+(p) 2007 Diogenes Verlag AG, übersetzt von Christa E. Seibicke
Reiches Erbe
Summary
Costanza Altavilla war für Anna Maria Giusti immer die gute Seele, die in ihrer Abwesenheit die Post aus dem Briefkasten nahm. Doch dieses Mal findet sie ihre Nachbarin tot in der Wohnung vor - mit Schürfwunden an Hals und Schultern. Ist die alte Dame nur gestürzt, oder hat jemand nachgeholfen? Während ViceQuestore Giuseppe Patta die Geschichte verharmlost und zu den Akten legen will, vertraut Brunetti auf seinen Instinkt - und gelangt zu tieferen Wahrheiten als jenen, die beweisbar sind. Mit ungewöhnlichen Mitteln macht Brunetti sich stark für die Alten und Schwachen. Donna Leons bisher feinfühligster Fall für ihren Commissario. "Reiches Erbe" ("Drawing Conclusions", 2011) ist der 20. Roman aus der Reihe um Commissario Brunetti.
©2012 Diogenes Verlag (P)2012 Diogenes Verlag
Feine Freunde
Summary
Commissario Brunetti beginnt seinen neunten Fall mit Ermittlungen in eigener Sache: Ein Beamter des Katasteramtes behauptet, die Wohnung der Familie Brunetti sei illegal gebaut worden. Dem Venezianer Brunetti, eigentlich ein unbestechlicher Vertreter des Rechtsstaates, ist sofort klar, dass sich dieses Problem nur mit Hilfe "Feiner Freunde" lösen lässt: "Zu keinem Zeitpunkt wäre es ihm so wenig wie Paola in den Sinn gekommen, die Sache legal anzugehen, also die zuständigen Dienststellen und die Namen der richtigen Leute herauszufinden und dann die geeigneten Schritte einzuleiten. Venezianer pflegten es zu ignorieren, weil man wusste, dass solche Dinge sich nur mit "conoscenze" regeln ließen, als da waren: Bekannte, Freunde, Beziehungen und geschuldete Gefälligkeiten.Als der Beamte kurz darauf ums Leben kommt, ahnt Brunetti sofort, dass es sich um keinen Unfall handelt. Er beginnt mit Nachforschungen, die ihn schließlich zu einem weiteren ungeklärten Mord führen, einem Rechtsanwalt, der am helllichten Tag erschossen wurde. Brunetti kommt einem Netz von Korruption, Wucher und Drogen auf die Schliche, aus dem es keinen einfachen Ausweg gibt.
(c)+(p) 2008 Diogenes Verlag AG, aus dem Amerikanischen von Monika Elwenspoek
Auf Treu und Glauben
Summary
Commissario Brunetti will mit seiner Familie nach Südtirol fahren. Er ist ferienreif. Das Verbrechen scheint auch eine Auszeit zu nehmen, nur zwei Leute bitten ihn um einen Freundschaftsdienst: Brusca macht sich Gedanken um unerledigte Gerichtsakten, Vianello um die eigene Tante. Aus heiterem Himmel ist Zia Anita dabei, das Familienvermögen durchzubringen. Vianello fürchtet, sie stehe unter dem Einfluss eines gefährlichen Betrügers. Durch welche Kanäle fließt das Geld? Brunetti will das nach den Ferien aufklären und sitzt schon im Zug - da gibt es einen Toten. Ein Mordfall, der den Commissario in brütender Hitze kreuz und quer durch Venedig führt. Brunetti kämpft gegen Hinterhältigkeit und Scheinheiligkeit, gegen Durchtriebenheit und Korruption. Donna Leons 19. Fall führt in ein Venedig der Scharlatane.
©2011 Diogenes Verlag AG (P)2011 Diogenes Verlag AG
In Sachen Signora Brunetti
Summary
Es beginnt mit einem Telefonanruf am frühen Morgen. Im kühlen venezianischen Frühdunst ist ein Akt von Vandalismus verübt worden. Bald allerdings muß Commissario Brunetti feststellen, daß der Täter kein kleiner Ganove ist. Am Tatort wartet auf die Festnahme keine andere als Paola Brunetti, seine Frau.
(c)+(p) 2008 Diogenes Verlag AG, aus dem Amerikanischen von Monika Elwenspoek
Lasset die Kinder zu mir kommen
Summary
Commisario Brunettis sechzehnter Fall. Was ist geschehen, wenn schwerbewaffnete Carabinieri die Wohnung eines Kinderarztes stürmen und ihm sein 18 Monate altes Baby entreißen? Brunetti gibt keine Ruhe, bis er die Hintergründe kennt. Geldsegen und Vergeltung, Kindersegen und unerfüllter Babywunsch: In "Lasset die Kinder zu mir kommen" wird der Familienmensch Brunetti vor eine harte Zerreißprobe gestellt.
(c)+(p) 2008 Diogenes Verlag AG
Heimliche Versuchung
Summary
Als eine Bekannte von Paola in der Questura vorspricht, glaubt Brunetti zunächst, sie mache sich unnötig Sorgen um ihre Familie. Da wird ihr Mann im Koma ins Krankenhaus eingeliefert. Ein Überfall und Verbindungen ins Drogenmilieu liegen nah. Konkrete Anhaltspunkte fehlen. Und doch stößt der Commissario allerorten auf Betrügereien, ja sogar auf ein Leck in der Questura. Fakten bekommt er keine zu fassen, geschweige denn einen Täter. Aber sein Gerechtigkeitssinn lässt ihm keine Ruhe. Donna Leon, geboren 1942 in New Jersey, lebt seit 1965 im Ausland. Sie arbeitete als Reiseleiterin in Rom und als Werbetexterin in London sowie als Lehrerin an amerikanischen Schulen in der Schweiz, im Iran, in China und Saudi-Arabien. Die "Brunetti"-Romane machten sie weltberühmt. Donna Leon lebt heute in der Schweiz und in Venedig.
©2018 Diogenes Verlag AG. Übersetzung von Werner Schmitz (P)2018 Diogenes Verlag AG
The Jewels of Paradise
Summary
Donna Leon has won heaps of critical praise and legions of fans for her best-selling mystery series featuring Commissario Guido Brunetti, one of contemporary crime fiction’s most beloved characters. With The Jewels of Paradise, Leon takes listeners beyond the world of the Venetian Questura in her first stand-alone novel. Caterina Pellegrini is a native Venetian, and like so many of them, she’s had to leave home to pursue her career elsewhere, mostly abroad. With a doctorate in baroque opera from Vienna, she lands in Birmingham, England, as a research fellow and assistant professor. Birmingham, however, is no Venice, so when she gets word of a position back home, Caterina jumps at the opportunity. The job is an unusual one. After nearly three centuries, two locked trunks, believed to contain the papers of a once-famous, now largely forgotten baroque composer, have been discovered. The composer was deeply connected in religious and political circles, but he died childless, and now two Venetian men, descendants of his cousins, each claim inheritance. With rumors of a treasure, they aren’t about to share the possible fortune. Caterina has been hired to attend the opening of the trunks and examine any enclosed papers to discover the “testamentary disposition” of the composer. But when her research takes her in unexpected directions and a silent man follows her through the streets, she begins to wonder just what secrets these trunks may hold.
©2012 Donna Leon and Diogenes Verlag AG (P)2012 AudioGO
About Face
Summary
The polluted waters of the canals in Venice are an ever-present issue; but environmental concerns become significant in Commissario Guido Brunetti's work when an investigator from the Carabiniere - looking into the illegal hauling of garbage - asks for a favor. But the investigator is not the only one with a special request. Brunetti's father-in-law needs help and a mysterious woman comes into the picture. And the Commissario soon finds himself in the middle of an investigation into murder and corruption more dangerous than anything he's seen before.
©2009 Donna Leon and Diogenes Verlag AG Zurich (P)2009 BBC Audio
Beastly Things
Summary
When the body of man is found in a canal, damaged by the tides, carrying no wallet, and wearing only one shoe, Brunetti has little to work with. No local has filed a missing-person report, and no hotel guests have disappeared. Where was the crime scene? And how can Brunetti identify the man when he can’t show pictures of his face? The autopsy shows a way forward: It turns out the man was suffering from a rare, disfiguring disease. With Inspector Vianello, Brunetti canvasses shoe stores, and winds up on the mainland in Mestre, outside of his usual sphere. From a shopkeeper, they learn that the man had a kindly way with animals. At the same time, animal rights and meat consumption are quickly becoming preoccupying issues at the Venice Questura, and in Brunetti’s home, where conversation at family meals offer a window into the joys and conflicts of Italian life. Perhaps with the help of Signorina Elettra, Brunetti and Vianello can identify the man and understand why someone wanted him dead. As subtle and engrossing as ever, Leon’s Beastly Things is immensely enjoyable, intriguing, and ultimately moving.
©2012 Donna Leon (P)2012 AudioGO Ltd.
The Golden Egg
Summary
Over the years, the best-selling Commissario Guido Brunetti series has conquered the hearts of mystery lovers all over the world. Brunetti is both a perceptive investigator and a principled family man, and through him, Leon has explored Venice in all its aspects: its history, beauty, food, and social life, but also its crime and corruption. In The Golden Egg, as the first leaves of autumn begin to fall, Vice Questore Patta asks Brunetti to look into a minor violation committed by the mayor’s future daughter-in-law. Brunetti has no interest in helping his boss amass political favors, but he has little choice but to comply. Then Brunetti’s wife, Paola, comes to him with a request of her own. The mentally handicapped man who worked at their dry cleaners has just died of a sleeping pill overdose, and Paola loathes the idea that he lived and died without anyone noticing him, or helping him. To please his wife, Brunetti investigates the death, and is surprised to find nothing on the man: no birth certificate, no passport, no driver’s license, no credit cards. As far as the Italian government is concerned, he never existed. And yet, there is the body. As secrets unravel, Brunetti suspects an aristocratic family might be somehow connected to the death. But why would anyone want this sweet, simple-minded man dead?
©Donna Leon and Diogenes Verlag AG Zurich (P)2013 AudioGO