A Refiner's Fire

Commissario Guido Brunetti returns with a gripping and powerful case about the murkiness of power and a test of loyalties 'Perfectly crafted . . . this only proves what a truly great writer [Leon] has become' Mark Sanderson, The Times 'One of the most subtle and exquisite detective series ever' Washington Post When two teenage gangs are arrested after clashing violently in one of Venices campi, the son of a local hero is implicated. But when Commissario Guido Brunetti is asked by a wealthy foreigner to vet this man, Monforte, for a job, he discovers that Monforte might not be such a hero after all. This seeming contradiction, and a brutal attack on one of Brunettis colleagues by a possible gang member, concentrate Brunettis attentions. Soon, he discovers the sordid hypocrisy surrounding Monfortes past, culminating in a fiery meeting of two gangs and a final opportunity for redemption. A Refiners Fire is Donna Leon at her very best: an elegant, sophisticated storyteller whose indelible characters become richer with each book, and who constantly interrogates the ambiguity between moral and legal justice.