Rent Doctored Evidence: A Commissario Guido Brunetti Mystery

Synopsis

Maria Grazia Battestini was a nasty old woman. No one is upset when she is murdered. Battestini's maid, a Romanian woman is missing and the prime suspect. The police found her at the central station trying to leave the country. In an attempt to flee, she is killed by a train. A large sum of money is found on her person, thus confirming the police's suspicions over the maid's guilt.

Commissario Brunetti has just returned from his vacation. His first day back on the job he encounters Battestini's neighbor, Signora Gismondi, who also had just returned from a vacation in London. Signora Gismondi had learned of her neighbor's death on her return. Signora Gismondi also knew the Romanian maid, and attests to having given the maid the money. Perhaps the murder was not motivated by Greed but by another sin altogether? Brunetti investigates.

Praise for Doctored Evidence:

[Brunetti's] humane police work is disarming, and his ambles through the city are a delight." -The New York Times Book Review

"Fans of Leon will not be disappointed as she crafts yet another expert mystery."
-The Baltimore Sun

"A smart and stylish fast-paced case of intrigue and corruption, which Leon. . . brings to her pages with wit, affection, and authority." -The San Francisco Chronicle

"Deeply satisfying and often very funny." -The Miami Herald

"The sophisticated but still moral Brunetti, with his love of food and his loving family, proves a worthy custodian of timeless values and verities." -The Wall Street Journal

"A clever plot, fun characters, and a colorful setting. Recommended."-Deadly Pleasures

"A good old-fashioned mystery…. But there is something more to [the novel] than a murder and a search for whodunit- a subtle critique, through Brunetti's eyes, of a society far along in the process of decay." -The Philadelphia Inquirer

"Offers many pleasures, including a clever puzzle. . . . Leon evokes the real Venice, not the place of romantic novels or glitzy travel guides but the gritty, inbred city of dishonest politicians and hamlet-like neighborhoods filled with gossip." -Publishers Weekly

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