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Content snapshot
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Violence
Some
A murder in an academic setting; investigated without graphic content
Language
Barely any
Mild language
Sexual Content
Barely any
No significant sexual content
Substance Use
Barely any
Brief social drinking
Emotional Intensity
Some
Themes of obsession, cultural value, and institutional failure carry the novel's psychological weight
What this book is about
Pages are being cut from rare books at Venice's most prestigious private library, and Commissario Brunetti is called in to investigate. The case deepens when a librarian is found dead. What begins as a cultural crime becomes a meditation on the value we place on art and knowledge, and on the lengths people go to possess what they covet. The twenty-third Brunetti novel is characteristically elegant and quietly devastating.
Notes for sensitive readers
Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.
Rare book theft
Murder in academic setting
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