Donna Leon Interviewed by Peter Kemp

Bestselling crimewriter Donna Leon introduces the 31st case of her fictional Venetian detective Commissario Guido Brunetti.

Brunetti agrees to look privately into a case for Elisabetta Foscarini, the daughter of a woman who was kind to Brunetti’s mother. Foscarini’s accountant son-in-law has alarmed his wife by saying they might be in danger because of something he’s involved with. Brunetti finds nothing of concern in the son-in-law’s business affairs. When Foscarini’s daughter’s place of work is vandalised, he finds himself looking into the family.

Leon’s novels have sold more than 1.7 million copies in the UK and been translated into 35 languages. The Times named her one of the 50 greatest crime writers. Give Unto Others was published in her 80th year. Her debut novel, Death at La Fenice, was published when she was 49. The idea came about when she attended a rehearsal at Venice’s Teatro La Fenice opera house. A friend muttered, ‘I could kill the conductor’, and the idea for the plot was born.

Previous vice-chancellor’s lectures have been given by Lord David Owen, terrorism expert Professor Richard English and novelist Anne Enright.

This event is part of the festival’s programme of Italian literature and culture.