Arrow Books/Random House, London 2002

As in all Leon´s novels staged in Venice, Brunetti and his family take centre stage. Here a student of Paola,  Claudia Leonardo, first seeks Brunetti´s help in a rather strange law problem concerning her dead father, then she is found murdered, and this draws Brunetti into her life story.

Leon delves deep into the fascist past of the Italians, no wonder she does not want her books published in Italy. When rich Jewish families had to flee the country, corrupt authorities acqired their property cheap and kept their crimes concealed to the present day.

Claudia´aunt thus possesses priceless pieces of art in her otherwise shabby flat. When she, too, is found dead, Brunetti sets a process of revelation in motion that not only solves the murders, but also brings the artefacts back into the hands of the state, if not their original owners.

I should think, the American Leon might occupy herself with the crimes committed by the American settlers against the original Indian population of their country, instead of nosing into the war crimes of other countries.