For Commissario Guido Brunetti it begins with an early morning phone call. A sudden act of vandalism has just been committed in the chill Venetian dawn. But Brunetti soon discovers that the perpetrator is no petty criminal, for the culprit at the scene is none other than Paola Brunetti, his wife.

Maria Testa, better known to Brunetti as the nun who once cared for his mother, turns up at the Commissario's door. Maria has left her nursing convent after the suspicious deaths of five patients. Is she creating fears to justify abandoning her vocation, or is there a more sinister scenario?

Three young friends meet in a wood to act out an elaborate masque. But, unknown to them, they are being watched. Each is killed by a single bullet. Soon afterwards, one of Inspector Wallander's colleagues is found murdered. Is this the same killer, and what could the connection be? In this investigation, Wallander is always one step behind.

This tale marks the end of the Kurt Wallander mysteries and yet leads back to Wallander's Ystad, where a new series of thrillers can begin. Stefan Lindman investigates the murder of a former police colleague and to his horror uncovers links to a global web of neo-Nazi activity.

Beneath Kollen Mountain lies a small village where the children run in and out of one another's houses and play unafraid in the streets. When this tranquil scene is disturbed by the discovery of a naked body beside the lake, tough, no-nonsense Inspector Sejer is determined to uncover the truth.

When a lorry crashes on one of the treacherous hair-pin bends in the Italian Dolomites even Commissario Guido Brunetti of the Venice Questura is appalled when he learns of its terrible cargo. This is Donna Leon's fourth novel to feature Guido Brunetti.