The twenty-second instalment in the internationally acclaimed, bestselling Commissario Brunetti series

'The familiar characters and Venetian location are described with remarkable freshness and, as always, the edifying result is both amusing and thought-provoking.' Sunday Telegraph

'Donna Leon has a wonderful feeling for the social complexities of Venice, where corruption is as old and deep and treacherous as the canals.' Daily Mail

A New York Times Bestseller

When a local man is found dead after overdosing on sleeping pills, Commissario Brunetti's wife can't help but ask him to investigate. The sweet, simple-minded man had worked at their local dry cleaner and Paola loathes the idea that he lived and died without anyone noticing or helping him.

But what seems to be an open-and-shut case of suicide soon proves to be anything but. Brunetti soon discovers that there is nothing on the man: no birth certificate, no passport, no driver's license, no credit cards. Stranger still, the dead man's mother refuses to speak to the police. As secrets unravel, Brunetti begins to suspect that an aristocratic family might be somehow connected to the mystery . . .

The familiar characters and Venetian location are described with remarkable freshness and, as always, the edifying result is both amusing and thought-provoking * Sunday Telegraph *
Leon’s impeccably plotted, utterly involving Italian-set novels (featuring the food-loving Commissario Brunetti) have rarely been less than excellent. So it proves with the latest, The Golden Egg. Involved in routine enquiries into a possible bribery case, Brunetti hears from his wife Paola of the death of an educationally-challenged man who worked at the Brunetti’s dry cleaners ... The Golden Egg is Donna Leon on top form. * The Good Book Guide *
If there’s a writer for whom the law of diminishing returns has been revoked, it’s Donna Leon. The doyenne of Italian crime fiction, whose stamina in returning time and again to her Venetian beat is matched only by her curiosity, she has proved herself, in the space of 22 titles, not only an able detective novelist, but the author of something more substantial ... It is one of the joys of Leon’s work that she can take readers into the sinister heart of Italy, and yet, in the person of Brunetti and his companions, convince us that not all is lost. * Herald *
The introspective Brunetti, a man with a healthy sense of the absurd and a sharp eye for the fading grandeur of the city’s architecture, makes for good company as he negotiates the perilous labyrinth of Venetian police office politics. Deceptively languid in its pace and a masterclass in mood, The Golden Egg … is a meticulously crafted example of how even the most apparently innocuous of crimes can reveal a trove of history. * Irish Times *
All beautifully spliced together * Evening Standard *
The Golden Egg is Donna Leon on top form. * Good Book Guide *
Donna Leon is better than ever…Superb. * WI Life *
[T]his is a much darker version of Brunetti-land than the earlier novels…The character of the deaf mutes seems to serve as an allegory of the political landscape of Italy – the public silenced and ignored, whilst those in power continue the ancient Italian tradition of fiddle-playing. * The Lady *
The descriptions of Venice and Venetian life are beautifully written and acutely observed … The author clearly has an excellent understanding of the Italian psyche and a profound knowledge of Venice and Venetian life. This is the 22nd book in Donna Leon’s Commissario Brunetti series and I can’t wait for the 23rd. * Crimereview *

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.