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 city, Venice, to discover the person responsible. Now, in Transient Desires, 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,...

On a frigid New Year's Eve in Minneapolis a young woman's brutalized body falls from the trunk of a car into the path of oncoming traffic. Questions as to whether she was alive or dead when she hit the icy pavement result in her macabre nickname, Zombie Doe. Unidentified and unidentifiable, she is the ninth nameless female victim of the year, and homicide detectives Sam Kovac and Nikki Liska are charged with the task of not only finding out who Zombie...

"A Thames River Police superintendent struggling to win the respect of his men, William Monk is on a patrol boat near Waterloo Bridge when he notices a young couple standing at the bridge railing, apparently engaged in an intense discussion. The woman waves her arms and places her hands on the man's shoulders. A caress or a push? The grasps hold of her. To save her or to kill her? Seconds later, the pair plunge to their death in the icy waters. Monk...

Laurel Shields awakens to find her physician husband, Warren, in his study, wildly pulling books from the shelves. A home pregnancy test confirms Laurel's fear that she is pregnant, and she believes her lover is the father. Later that morning, Laurel is surprised to find her husband still at home, pale and fearful. Then, in come the children, innocent of it all. In less than five hours the Shields house becomes the vortex of a nerve-wracking siege....

On the docks along the River Thames, and in its sinister alleys, sex merchants ply their trade. The kingpin of this realm is Jericho Phillips. On his floating brothel, sex slaves are forced to endure unspeakable acts. Now one slave, thirteen-year-old Fig, is found murdered. Commander WIlliam Monk of the River Police swears that Phillips will hang for this abomination. But Phillips is as wily as he is monstrous. Monk's attempt to bring about justice...

FBI agent John Quinn and former FBI agent Kate Conlan pursue a serial killer of women in Minneapolis. The man tortures his victims, recording their screams on tape. By the author of A Thin Dark Line.

Dr. Caryn Dryden is found floating dead in her hot tub, and homicide inspector Devin Juhle targets a suspect close to home: her husband, Stuart Gorman. After all, Caryn recently asked for a divorce ... and Stuart stands to gain millions in insurance. His alibi - that he was at his cabin on Echo Lake that weekend - doesn't keep him out of hot water. But maybe a shrewd attorney will. Gina Roarke, a partner in Dismas Hardy's firm, is eager to take on...

"Donna Leon's bestselling mystery novels have won a multitude of fans for their insider's portrayal of Venice. From family meals to vaporetti rides, the details and rhythms of everyday life are an integral part of this beloved series. But so are the never-ending influx of tourists and the suffocating corruption. Through it all, Leon's Commissario Guido Brunetti, a good man who loves his family and his city, has been an enduring figure, but in Earthly...

Mount Dragon: an enigmatic research complex hidden in the vast desert of New Mexico. Guy Carson and Susana Cabeza de Vaca have come to Mount Dragon to work shoulder to shoulder with some of the greatest scientific minds on the planet. Led by visionary genius Brent Scopes, their secret goal is a medical breakthrough that promises to bring incalculable benefits to the human race. But while Scopes believes he is leading the way to a new world order,...

Hired to investigate a suspicious near-drowning that left a girl permanently brain damaged years earlier, Brunetti struggles to determine if a crime was actually committed in a case set against a backdrop of dynamic transitions in contemporary Venice.