Recommendations based on "The Chef"

In 1327, finding his sensitive mission at an Italian abbey further complicated by seven bizarre deaths, Brother William of Baskerville turns detective, penetrating the cunning labyrinth of the abbey and deciphering coded manuscripts for clues. Reprint.

“The novels of Andrea Camilleri breathe out the sense of place, the sense of humor, and the sense of despair that fills the air of Sicily.” —Donna LeonWhen a colleague extends his summer vacation, Inspector Salvo Montalbano is forced to stay in Vigàta and endure the August heat. Montalbano's long-suffering girlfriend, Livia, joins him with a friend—husband and young son in tow—to keep her company during these dog days of summer. But when the boy suddenly disappears into a narrow shaft hidden under the family's beach rental, Montalbano, in pursuit of the child, uncovers something terribly sinister. As the inspector spends the summer trying to solve this perplexing case, Livia refuses to answer his calls-and Montalbano is left to take a plunge that will affect the rest of his life.Fans of the Sicilian inspector as well as readers new to the popular series will enjoy following the melancholy but unflinchingly moral Montalbano as he undertakes one of the most shocking investigations of his career.

1st UK ed. DJ is fine. Signed on t-p by the author. UNREAD.

A Murder. A Murderer. No Motive. For 34 Years Fabrizio Collini Has Worked Diligently For Mercedes Benz. He Is A Quiet And Respectable Person Until The Day He Visits One Of Berlin's Most Luxurious Hotels And Kills An Innocent Man. Young Attorney Caspar Leinen Takes The Case. Getting A Not-guilty Verdict Could Make His Name. Ferdinand Von Schirach ; Translated From The German By Anthea Bell.

When a body is found floating in a canal, strangely disfigured and with multiple stab wounds, Commissario Brunetti is called to investigate and is convinced he recognises the man from somewhere. However, with no identification on the body except for the distinctive shoes the man was wearing, and no reports of people missing from the Venice area, the case cannot progress.Brunetti soon realises why he remembers the dead man, and asks Signorina Elettra if she can help him find footage of a farmers' protest the previous autumn. But what was his involvement with the protest, and what does it have to do with his murder? Acting on the fragile lead, Brunetti and Inspector Vianello set out to discover the man's identity. Their investigation eventually takes them to a slaughterhouse on the mainland, where they discover the origin of the crime and the world of blackmail and corruption that surrounds it. Both a gripping case and a harrowing exploration of the dark side of Italy's meat industry, Donna Leon's latest novel is a compelling addition to the Brunetti series.

In 1327, Franciscans in a wealthy Italian abbey are suspected of heresy, and Brother William of Bakersville arrives to investigate. His delicate mission is overshadowed by seven bizarre deaths that take place in the same number of days, and Brother William must turn detective to sort things out.

A man's body, virtually decapitated, is found by the Bosphorus. His identity card names him as Rifat Berisha, an Albanian. The family is impenetrable but when Inspector Cetin Ikmen, whose mother was Albanian, consults his cousin, Samsun, he's left in little doubt that Berisha's death is likely to be the result of a fis, an implacable blood feud between rival Albanian families. Which means the blood already shed will have to be avenged. And if the Berishas or their enemies discover Ikmen is from a noted Albanian clan, some of the spilt blood might be his...

Suspecting a link between the murder of an elderly man and the shooting of an Italian fisherman, Inspector Montalbano encounters impoverished housekeeper and sometime prostitute Karima, whose thieving young son's life is endangered after she disappears. Reprint.

A personal connection to the murder case of retiree Fabrizio Collini and a prominent industrialist present a dilemma to new lawyer Caspar Leinen.

**An Instant New York Times Bestseller**Brunetti is forced to confront the price of loyalty, to his past and in his work, as a seemingly innocent request leads him into troubling watersWhat role can or should loyalty play in the life of a police inspector? It’s a question Commissario Guido Brunetti must face and ultimately answer in Give unto Others, Donna Leon’s splendid thirty-first installment of her acclaimed Venetian crime series.Brunetti is approached for a favor by Elisabetta Foscarini, a woman he knows casually, but her mother was good to Brunetti’s mother, so he feels obliged to at least look into the matter privately, and not as official police business. Foscarini’s son-in-law, Enrico Fenzo, has alarmed his wife (her daughter) by confessing their family might be in danger because of something he’s involved with. Since Fenzo is an accountant, Brunetti logically suspects the cause of danger is related to the finances of a client. Yet his clients seem benign: an optician, a restaurateur, a charity established by his father-in-law. However, when his friend’s daughter’s place of work is vandalized, Brunetti asks his own favors—that his colleagues Claudia Griffoni, Lorenzo Vianello, and Signorina Elettra Zorzi assist his private investigation, which soon enough turns official as they uncover the dark and Janus-faced nature of a venerable Italian institution.Exploring the wobbly line between the criminal and non-criminal, revealing previously untold elements of Brunetti’s past, Give unto Others shows that the price of reciprocity can be steep.