An elderly woman’s cryptic dying words in a Venetian hospital lead Guido Brunetti to uncover a threat to the entire Veneto in Donna Leon’s splendid twenty-ninth novel of the world famous Brunetti series.

Why did the water distribution technician Vittorio Fadalto die? Was it an accident or did he know too much?

»They killed him . . . Bad money,« are the sibylline words the patient Benedetta Tosi manages to tell her visitors about her recenly deceased husband. Although the dying woman probably can’t hear him, Brunetti promises to look into her cryptic accusation. What starts as a private tragedy develops into a larger case. Brunetti does not rest until he and his colleagues unravel the profound and perilous meaning of the dying woman’s words.

Leon gives us a rare insight into the human heart, and together with her endearing characters uncovers new and unforgettable facets of the human condition.