The Girl of his Dreams, by Donna Leon (Random House NZ, RRP $36.99):
Set in Venice, the descriptive writing in this book is so good it could probably appeal to travel fans every bit as much as murder-mystery fans.
It seems this one is part of a series written by Donna Leon that features Commissario Brunetti and his sidekick (for want of a better word) Ispettore Vianello and there were times where I certainly felt a bit out of the loop: like they were making inside jokes and I wasn’t part of the inside crowd. However, it was still a good read.
When the body of a young girl is found in the Grand Canal and then, inconceivably, no one reports her missing, Brunetti is drawn into a search for not only the cause of her death but also for her identity and her family.
The ending was almost a bit of an anti-climax but the skill of the author managed to make a storyline that very nearly fell short into something compelling.