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Through a Glass, Darkly: A Commissario Guido Brunetti Mystery    by Donna Leon Amazon.com order for
Through a Glass, Darkly
by Donna Leon
Order:  USA  Can
Penguin, 2007 (2007)
Hardcover, Paperback, Audio, CD
* *   Reviewed by Tim Davis

Police Commissario Guido Brunetti is back in action in another fascinating mystery from accomplished author Donna Leon.

When a colleague's friend - Marco Ribetti - is arrested during an environmental protest at a nearby paint factory in Venice, Italy, Brunetti finds himself drawn into an environment complicated by deeply hidden controversy.

At the center of the controversy is Ribetti's father-in-law, Giovanni de Cal, an ill-tempered owner of a nearby glass factory. Recently, Ribetti's father-in-law has been making vicious threats against his son-in-law, and - as a favor to Brunetti's colleague Lorenzo Vianello and to Ribetti's wife Assunta - Brunetti makes discreet inquiries into Giovanni de Cal's bellicose utterances.

Then, when a dead body is found at Giovanni de Cal's factory, Brunetti must try to make sense of what some insist was an accident but others believe to have been a cold-blooded murder. However, when Brunetti combines what he has learned about Giovanni de Cal and what he is learning about Ribetti's protest at the adjacent paint factory, Brunetti wonders about the ostensibly coincidental connections and the mysterious circumstances surrounding the appearance of the dead body.

Brunetti soon discovers that appearances are not what they seem to be, and he is convinced that the dead man was murdered, having been caught in the brutal maelstrom of corruption, ambition, politics, and environmental crimes that threatens to destroy anyone who gets in its way.

As the plot unfolds, for Brunetti, the questions remain: Can he find out who is responsible? And will that person (or those persons) be held accountable? Or will that person (or those persons) be immune because of power and connections?

Enjoy the fun, atmosphere, and sophistication of this entertaining mystery crafted by Donna Leon, and find out the answers to Brunetti's questions.

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