Try free for 30 days

Preview
  • Beastly Things

  • A Commissario Guido Brunetti Mystery, Book 21
  • By: Donna Leon
  • Narrated by: Andrew Sachs
  • Length: 4 hrs and 34 mins
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (3 ratings)

1 credit a month to buy any audiobook in our entire collection.
Access to thousands of additional audiobooks and Originals from the Plus Catalogue.
Member-only deals & discounts.
Auto-renews at $16.45/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Beastly Things

By: Donna Leon
Narrated by: Andrew Sachs
Try Premium Plus free

$16.45 per month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $16.99

Buy Now for $16.99

Pay using voucher balance (if applicable) then card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions Of Use and Privacy Notice and authorise Audible to charge your designated credit card or another available credit card on file.

Publisher's Summary

When a man is found stabbed to death floating in the canal, Commissario Brunetti is convinced he recognises him from somewhere. But with no identification on the body and no reports of people missing from the Venice area, it seems as if he has appeared from nowhere, and the case is at a dead end.

It doesn't take long for Brunetti to realise why he remembers the dead man - he saw him at a demonstration a couple of years ago, where farmers were protesting about European milk quotas. But what was his involvement with the protest? And could it have anything to do with his murder?

Having nothing to go on but the distinctive shoes the man was wearing and a disease that had left his body strangely deformed, Brunetti and Inspector Vianello set out to try and discover the man's identity.

Their investigation eventually takes them to a slaughterhouse at Preganziol, on the mainland. It is there that Brunetti discovers the dead man's connection with the slaughterhouse and the world of blackmail and corruption that surrounds it. With a gripping case set before a harrowing exploration of the meat industry, Donna Leon's latest novel is a dark and compelling addition to the Brunetti series.

©2012 Donna Leon (P)2012 Random House Audiobooks

Critic Reviews

"the book is written with that depth of thought about crime and humanity that characterizes the best of Leon’s work." ( Jane Jakeman, Independent)
"[Leon’s] books paint such an appealing portrait of modern Venetian life that they’ve sent droves of holidaymakers to the city." ( Press Association)
"Beastly Things is a perfect accompaniment to a hot day and a cool glass of white wine. Superb." ( Crimesquad.com)
“The superb reader, Andrew Sachs, has become the voice of Brunetti: intelligent, thoughtful, weary and worldly wise. When the policeman relaxes at night, we can almost taste the cold Pinot Grigio that he sips on his balcony, and when he pays a visit to the sickening, stinking, blood-boltered horrors of the slaughterhouse, we are led right down into the seventh circle of Dante's Hell.”(Sue Gaisford, The Independent on Sunday)
"A captivating tale…A chillingly detailed addition to the Brunetti series, sure to have you hooked from the first chapter." ( North East Lifestyle magazine)

What listeners say about Beastly Things

Average Customer Ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    2
  • 4 Stars
    1
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    3
  • 4 Stars
    0
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    2
  • 4 Stars
    1
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Donna Leon at her very best

Beastly Things is one of Donna Leon's most accomplished books: the plot is well conceived and fascinatingly presented, her regular characters come through with a limpid humanity, the cowardly or the calculating exhibit all that their actions imply, and the closing chapter is gracious and moving. The reading by Andrew Sachs is moving beyond expectation.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.