The worst episodes of Donna Leon
Ranked by viewer rating, lows first. Vote on a placement to back it or contest it.
- 01
A truck crashes on one of the treacherous mountain roads in the Italian Dolomites, spilling a terrible cargo. Meanwhile, a prominent international lawyer is found dead in the carriage of an intercity train at Santa Lucia. Can the two tragedies possibly be connected? Commissario Guido Brunetti digs deep into the secret lives of Italy's elite classes to find the answer.
- 02
For Commissario Brunetti, it began with an early morning phone call. In the chill of the Venetian dawn, a sudden act of vandalism shatters the quiet of the deserted city. But Brunnetti is soon shocked to find that the culprit waiting to be apprehended at the scene is someone from his own family. Meanwhile, he is under pressure from his superiors at work to solve a daring robbery with a link to a suspicious accidental death. Does it all lead back to the Mafia? And how are his family's actions connected to these crimes?
- 03
During a performance of La Traviata at La Fenice opera house the distinguished German conductor is found dead, apparently poisoned by a cup of coffee. Brunetti embarks on a voyage of exploration in the often murky world both of opera and the victim's family, eventually unearthing a surprising conclusion.
- 04
The Venetian island of Murano is known for its artisans who specialize in the traditional craft of glassmaking. When the owner of a glass factory is found murdered, Commissario Brunetti uncovers a connection between the colorful, filigree glass products that he made and some very toxic poisons. How else to explain the colorful slime containing arsenic oozing out from the factory?
- 05
A ten-year-old Roma girl is found dead in a Venetian canal. Brunetti goes to the encampment where she lived, but his attempts to speak with the community there are futile. When he learns who had befriended the victim and her little brother, he begins to understand the community’s silence. It also explains why he’s hit obstacles preventing the investigation.
- 06
A young woman returns from holiday to find her elderly neighbour dead on the floor. A heart attack seems the likely cause, but Commissario Brunetti is not so sure and decides to take a closer look. Soon he discovers that she was part of an organization that cares for abused women and that her apartment was a safe-house. Convinced that this is the lead he has been looking for, Brunetti begins his search for answers. But as he sets out to discover the truth behind her death, he is drawn into a decades-old story of lies and deceit that has blighted love and ruined lives - and has claimed this innocent woman as its newest victim. Brunetti's investigation takes him deep into the dark heart of his beloved Venice.
- 07
The celebrated soprano Flavia Petrelli returns to Venice after almost 15 years. A reason to be happy. However, her comeback is overshadowed: a boat has been set on fire. The Opera's director is in dispute with the union and blames the latter for several attacks. But when a young costume assistant dies, Brunetti realizes that there is more at stake. When he discovers a hiding place with an observation camera, it becomes manifest: Flavia Petrelli has a stalker! Apparently, the stranger wants to stage her stage performance as an unforgettable event. In return he does not shy away from violence. Is the soprano herself in danger in the end?
- 08
The student Claudia Leonardo asks Commissario Brunetti for advice about a retrial. Patta is especially pleased about the support of the pretty new colleague Franca Capari. Before Brunetti can make himself known in this case, Claudia is stabbed to death. Does the murder perhaps have something to do with the valuable pictures that her grandfather acquired as an officer? When Brunetti also finds Signora Jacobs, Claudia's grandmother, dead and discovers the hiding place of the valuable paintings, the case seems to be solved. But a chance encounter finally puts Brunetti on a completely different track...
- 09
When the body of man is found in a canal, damaged by the tides, carrying no wallet, and wearing only one shoe, Brunetti has little to work with. No local has filed a missing-person report, and no hotel guests have disappeared. Where was the crime scene? And how can Brunetti identify the man when he can’t show pictures of his face? The autopsy shows a way forward: it turns out the man was suffering from a rare, disfiguring disease. With Inspector Vianello, Brunetti canvasses shoe stores, and winds up on the mainland in Mestre, outside of his usual sphere. From a shopkeeper, they learn that the man had a kindly way with animals. At the same time, animal rights and meat consumption are quickly becoming preoccupying issues at the Venice Questura, and in Brunetti’s home, where conversation at family meals offer a window into the joys and conflicts of Italian life. Perhaps with the help of Signorina Elettra, Brunetti and Vianello can identify the man and understand why someone wanted him dead. As subtle and engrossing as ever, Leon’s Beastly Things is immensely enjoyable, intriguing, and ultimately moving.
- 10
The apparently mentally disabled Davide falls into the canal and drowns. As it turns out, he had an overdose of beta blockers in his bloodstream. Ana Cavanelli, Davide's mother, confesses to Brunetti that she gave him the pills - Davide had asked her to die several times. When Brunetti receives a hint that there is a connection between Davide and the multimillionaire Ludovico Lembo, he gradually uncovers the abysses of a family tragedy.
- 11
Brunetti is an expert in keeping wishes of Venice's grandees out of his work. The venerable Contessa Lando-Continui, however, cannot escape even the commissario. The 80-year-old asks him to clear up a family tragedy that took place a long time ago: She wants to know how her niece fell off a bridge, where the then 15-year-old almost drowned. Due to the irreversible brain damage, Manuela, now 30 years old, remains at the mental level of a 6-year-old (small) child - and that's how it will stay forever! At the same time, when the former lifesaver is murdered, the closed case takes on an unexpected topicality. Now the commissario wants to find out what the honourable family covered up and why Manuela's father had to start a new life in the Far East. After all these years of silence, the mighty Contessa has also summoned him - without, however, defoliating what it is all about. The commissario also comes across granite with the strict patriarch. Her close confidant Sandro Vittori-Ricciardi plays an opaque role, as does Stefano Dalla Lana, the murdered man's best friend. Brunetti puts his team on the two cases in which he suspects a direct connection. In a daring scenario he wants to unravel the truth from the felt of interests and intrigues.
- 12
A wealthy elderly woman is murdered. Soon after her Romanian maid was hit by a train while trying to leave Italy with a large amount of money and forged papers. The case appears to be solved. Then a neighbour provides evidence that the maid was not guilty of the murder. Brunetti digs further into the case, though officially it is closed and finds that greed was not the motive behind the killing.
- 13
As Venice braces for a winter tempest and the onslaught of acqua alta - the rising waters from torrential rain - Commissario Guido Brunetti finds out that an old friend has been savagely beaten at the palazzo home of reigning diva Flavia Petrelli
- 14
The violent death of a book collector leads Commissario Brunetti to the venerable Merula Library. In precious folios pages are missing. They were ruthlessly cut out. Was the victim a collector and art thief who got involved with the wrong people on the black market? But who murders for antiquarian book pages? And don't books stand for ideal values in addition to material ones? Brunetti suspects this and pushes the investigation further. Against the will of the traditional and influential Doge family Morosini-Albini, whose proud progenitor is currently running for Venice's mayor's office and who therefore wants to hide a centuries-old secret.
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