Venedig kann sehr heiß sein: Im Sommer fliehen die Venezianer aus der stickigen Lagunenstadt. Doch aus Ferien in den kühlen Bergen wird für Commissario Brunetti nichts. Dafür sorgen eine Leiche und dubiose Machenschaften am Tribunale.

At a dinner party given by his parents-in-law, Commissario Brunetti meets Franca Marinello, the wife of a prosperous Venetian businessman. He's charmed — perhaps too charmed, suggests his wife Paola — by her love of Virgil and Cicero, but shocked by her appearance. A few days later, Brunetti is visited by Carabinieri Maggior Filippo Guarino from the nearby city of Marghera. As part of a wider investigation into Mafia takeovers of businesses in the region, Guarino wants information about the owner of a trucking company who was found murdered in his office. He believes the man's death is connected to the illegal transportation of refuse — and more sinister material — in his company's trucks. No stranger to mutual suspicion and competition between rival Italian police departments, Brunetti is nevertheless puzzled by the younger man's paranoid behaviour. Eventually Guarino agrees to email a photo of his suspect, but by the time the photograph arrives, he himself is dead. Was he killed because he got too close? And why is it that Franca Marinello has often been seen in company of the suspect, a vulgar man with Mafia connections and a violent past? Donna Leon's new novel is as subtle, gripping and topical as ever, bringing the sights, sounds and smells of Venice flooding to life.

The twisted maze of Venice's canals has always been shrouded in mystery. Even the celebrated opera house, La Fenice, has seen its share of death. But nothing so horrific and violent as that of world-famous conductor, Maestro Helmut Wellauer — poisoned during a performance of La Traviata. Even Commissario of Police, Guido Brunetti, used to the labyrinthine corruptions of the city, is shocked at the number of enemies Wellauer has made on his way to the top — but just how many have motive enough for murder? The beauty of Venice is crumbling — and evil can seep through its decaying stones.

Donna Leon's eighteen novels have won her countless fans, heaps of critical acclaim, and a place among the top ranks of international crime writers. Through the warm-hearted, perceptive, and principled Commissario Guido Brunetti, Leon's best-selling books have explored Venice in all its aspects: history, tourism, high culture, food, family, but also violent crime and political corruption. In About Face, Leon returns to one of her signature subjects: the environment, which has reached a crisis in Italy. Incinerators across the south of Italy are at full capacity, burning who-knows-what and releasing unacceptable levels of dangerous air pollutants, while in Naples, enormous garbage piles grow in the streets. In Venice, with the polluted waters of the canals and a major chemical complex across the lagoon, the issue is never far from the fore. Environmental concerns become significant in Brunetti's work when an investigator from the Carabiniere, looking into the illegal hauling of garbage, asks for a favor. But the investigator is not the only one with a special request. His father-in-law needs help and a mysterious woman comes into the picture. Brunetti soon finds himself in the middle of an investigation into murder and corruption more dangerous than anything he's seen before.

Eigentlich wollte Brunetti mit seiner Familie in die Berge fahren. Doch dann wird vor Mestre die Leiche eines Mannes in Frauenkleidern gefunden. Ein Transvestit? Wird Streitigkeiten mit seinen Freiern gehabt haben — so die allgemeine Meinung, auch bei der Polizei. Brunetti schaut genauer hin und lernt bei seinen Ermittlungen, weniger schnell zu urteilen als die ach so ehrenwerten Normalbürger.

Eine Leiche schwimmt in einem stinkenden Kanal in Venedig. Und zum Himmel stinken auch die Machenschaften, die sich hinter diesem Tod verbergen: Mafia, amerikanisches Militär und geldgierige Geschäftsmänner sind gleichermaßen verwickelt. Commissario Brunetti muß sich anstrengen, um nicht selbst im Kanal zu landen. Wer Giftmüll verschwinden lassen kann, für den sind unliebsame Mitwisser kein Problem.