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 thirty-five 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.

"Leon ... has once again, apparently effortlessly, produced a wholly absorbing read." Sunday Telegraph "As usual, Leon's witty portrayal of modern Venetian life, and Brunetti's model marriage, are as entertaining as the working out of the whodunit. A joy from start to finish." Evening Standard "No one knows the labyrinthine world of Venice or the way favoritism and corruption shape Italian life like Leonas Brunetti ... the thoughtful Venetian cop with a love of food, an outspoken wife, and a computer-hacker secretary who plays man Friday to his detective" Time