Donna Leon: The Golden Egg (UK 2014) From the Publisher: When making routine enquiries into a possible bribery case that could embarrass the mayor -- a humiliation Vice-Questore Patta is very keen to avoid -- Commissario Brunetti receives a call from his wife, Paola, who is evidently very upset. The middle-aged deaf mute with the mental age of a child who helped out at the Brunetti's dry cleaners has been found dead -- an 'accidental' overdose of his mother's sleeping pills -- and Paola is distraught by the news. To the neighbourhood he was just the 'boy' who helped out, but nobody knew much about him -- not even his name. That a soul could have lived such a joyless life is too much for Paola to bear, and she asks Guido if he can find out what happened. It is a surprise to Brunetti just how little was known about this man-child -- there are no official records to show he even existed. The man's mother is angry and contradictory when questioned about his death, and Brunetti senses that there much more to the story than she is willing to tell. With the help of Inspector Vianello and the ever-resourceful Signorina Elettra, perhaps Brunetti can get to the truth and find some measure of solace. Donna Leon: The Golden Egg. The New Commissario Brunetti Novel. Arrow, ISBN: 9780099584971 (March, 2014), 338 p., £8.99.
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Donna Leon: The Golden Egg (USA 2014) From the Publisher: Donna Leon's novels starring the sharp and humane Venetian Commissario Guido Brunetti have won legions of fans and are bestsellers around the world. In The Golden Egg, when Brunetti's wife Paola asks him to look into the death of the handicapped man who worked at their local dry cleaner, Brunetti is surprised to find nothing on the man in the official records: no birth certificate, no driver's license, no credit cards. As far as the Italian government is concerned, he never existed. And yet, there is the body. As secrets unravel, Brunetti suspects an aristocratic family might be connected to the case. But why would anyone want this sweet, simpleminded man dead? Donna Leon: The Golden Egg. A Commissario Guido Brunetti Mystery. Atlantic Monthly Press, ISBN: 97808022421 (March, 2014), 276 p., $15.00.
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Donna Leon: The Golden Egg (UK 2013) From the Publisher: When making routine enquiries into a possible bribery case that could embarrass the mayor -- a humiliation Vice-Questore Patta is very keen to avoid -- Commissario Brunetti receives a call from his wife, Paola, who is evidently very upset. The middle-aged deaf mute with the mental age of a child who helped out at the Brunetti's dry cleaners has been found dead -- an 'accidental' overdose of his mother's sleeping pills -- and for some reason Paola is distraught by the news. To the neighbourhood he was just the 'boy' who helped out, but nobody knew much about him -- not even his name. That a soul could have lived such a joyless life is too much for Paola to bear, and she asks Guido if he can find out what happened. It is a surprise to Brunetti just how little was known about this man-child -- there are no official records to show he even existed. The man's mother is angry and contradictory when questioned about his death, and Brunetti senses that there much more to the story than she is willing to tell. With the help of Inspector Vianello and the ever-resourceful Signorina Elettra, perhaps Brunetti can get to the truth and find some measure of solace. Donna Leon: The Golden Egg. The New Commissario Brunetti Novel. William Heinemann, ISBN: 9780434022519 (April, 2013), 276 p., £8.99.
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Donna Leon: The Golden Egg (USA 2013) From the Publisher: In The Golden Egg, as the first leaves of autumn begin to fall, Vice Questore Patta asks Brunetti to look into a minor violation committed by the mayor's future daughter-in-law. Brunetti has no interest in helping his boss amass political favors, but he has little choice but to comply. Then Brunetti's wife, Paola, comes to him with a request of her own. The mentally handicapped man who worked at their dry cleaners has just died of a sleeping pill overdose, and Paola loathes the idea that he lived and died without anyone noticing him, or helping him. To please his wife, Brunetti investigates the death, and is surprised to find nothing on the man: no birth certificate, no passport, no driver's license, no credit cards. As far as the Italian government is concerned, he never existed. And yet, there is the body. As secrets unravel, Brunetti suspects an aristocratic family might be somehow connected to the death. But why would anyone want this sweet, simple-minded man dead? Donna Leon: The Golden Egg. A Commissario Guido Brunetti Mystery. Atlantic Monthly Press, ISBN: 9780802121011 (March, 2013), 276 p., $24.00.
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