Suffer the Little Children: A Commissario Guido Brunetti Mystery: 16 (The Commissario Guido Brunetti Mysteries) - Hardcover

"Leon's writing trembles with true feeling." -- Erin Hart "Donna Leon depicts the characters, food, culture, and people of Venice with a knowing eye for 'just the right' detail." -- Jennifer McCord The latest Commissario Guido Brunetti mystery from Donna Leon, whose novels "shimmer in the grace of their setting and are warmed by the charm of their characters" "Leon uses the relatively small and crime-free canvas of Venice for riffs about Italian life, sexual styles, and--best of all--the kind of ingrown business and political corruption that seems to lurk just below the surface." -- Dick Adler "I struggle to think of other series authors who are as dependable as the excellent Leon." -- Maxine Clarke "One of the best international crime writers . . . and her tales . . . set in Venice are at the apex of continental thrillers." -- Peter Mergendahl "Leon's gentle pace allows conversation and atmosphere to develop so full and founded that you can taste the coffee and smell the flowers. . . . You'll want to catch the first plane over there." -- Phillipa Stockley

Donna Leon's charming, evocative, and addictive Commissario Guido Brunetti series continues with Suffer the Little Children. When Commissario Brunetti is summoned in the middle of the night to the hospital bed of a senior pediatrician, he is confronted with more questions than answers. Three men -- a young Carabiniere captain and two privates from out of town -- have burst into the doctor's apartment in the middle of the night, attacked him and taken away his eighteenth-month old baby boy. What could have motivated an assault by the forces of the state so violent it has left the doctor mute? Who would have authorized such an alarming operation? At the same time, Brunetti's colleague Inspector Vianello discovers a money-making scam between pharmacists and doctors in the city. But it appears as if one of the pharmacists is after more than money. Donna Leon's new novel is as subtle and fascinating as ever, set in a beautifully-realized Venice, a glorious city seething with small-town vice.