A Sea of Troubles – Donna Leon

When a father and son are found murdered in their fishing boat on the island of Pellestrina, Comissario Brunetti and Detective Vianello leave their familiar turf of La Serenissima to investigate… which turns out to be a tricky task when faced with such a closed and close knit community.

When the ever resourceful Singorina Elletra volunteers to go undercover on the basis that she has relatives on Pellestrina and has regularly holidayed there in the past, Brunetti finds himself up against an equally impenetrably barrier; his attempts to dissuade her fail and the team find themselves truly in a sea of troubles.

In this novel, the crime and ‘police procedural’ part of the plot play second fiddle to the key characters – Guido and Paola Brunetti, Vianello and Elletra, and the island communities that inhabit the Venetian Laguna.

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