The Barnes & Noble ReviewThe ancient elegance of Venice makes for a striking contrast to contemporary murder in bestselling author Donna Leon's Death in a Strange Country. Comissario Guido Brunetti of the Venice police force faces a potential jurisdictional nightmare when the body of a young American soldier is pulled out of a nearby canal. As the case unfolds, it soon becomes clear that this was no accidental drowning or mugging gone awry, but cold-blooded murder and the questions Brunetti must answer are many. Who wanted this apparently well liked young man dead? What was the foreigner doing in Venice the night he died? And why was a fortune in drugs hidden in the dead soldier's apartment for Brunetti to find? It's up to Brunetti to find the truth amid tangled chains of evidence, true and false, working under the added burdens of political pressure and family troubles as he explores the complex crime's possible ties to terrorism, organized crime, or something worse. Sue Stone