BLOOD FROM A STONE. by Leon, Donna - (2005.)

New York:: Atlantic Monthly Press,, (2005.). SIGNED hardcover first edition -. Fine in a fine dust jacket (as new.). First US printing. Another title in her highly praised, and prize-winning, series of mysteries featuring Guido Brunetti, commissario of the Venice police. "On a cold Venetian night shortly before Christmas, a man is killed in a fight in Campo Santo Stefano. The closest witnesses to the event are the tourists who had been browsing the man's wares before his death. The dead man was working as a vu cumpra, one of the many Black Africans selling goods outside normal shop hours without a work permit. Arriving on the scene, Commissario Brunetti's response matches that of everybody involved: why would anyone kill an illegal immigrant?" SIGNED on the title page. 276 pp. Map endpapers.