Trace Elements

The twenty-ninth novel in Donna Leon's bestselling crime series.

They killed him. It was bad money.

A dying hospice patient gasps these cryptic words about her recently-deceased husband. Brunetti softly promises he will look into what appears to be a private family tragedy. He discovers that her husband worked for a company that monitored the cleanliness of Venice's water supply and that he had died in a motorcycle accident.

Distracted briefly by Vice Questore Patta's obsession with youth crime in Venice, Brunetti turns to the remarkable research skills of Patta's secretary, Signora Elettra Zorzi. With her help, Brunetti comes to realize the perilous meaning in the dying woman's accusation and the threat it reveals to the health of the entire region.

About the Author

Donna Leon was named by The Times as one of the 50 Greatest Crime Writers. She is an award-winning crime novelist, celebrated for the bestselling Brunetti series. Donna has lived in Venice for thirty years and previously lived in Switzerland, Saudi Arabia, Iran and China, where she worked as a teacher. Donna's books have been translated into 35 languages and have been published around the world.Her previous novels featuring Commissario Brunetti have all been highly acclaimed; including Friends in High Places, which won the CWA Macallan Silver Dagger for Fiction, Fatal Remedies, Doctored Evidence, A Sea of Troubles and Beastly Things.