Donna Leon is the internationally bestselling author of the Guido Brunetti mysteries.
From a childhood in the company of her New Jersey family, with frequent visits to her grandfather’s farm and summers spent selling homegrown tomatoes by the roadside, Leon has long been open to adventure. In 1976, she made the spontaneous decision to teach English in Iran, before finding herself swept up in the early days of the 1979 Revolution.
After teaching stints in China and Saudi Arabia, she finally landed in Venice. Leon vividly animates her decades-long love affair with Italy, her adoration of opera (especially Handel’s vocal music), her advocacy for the environment embodied in her passion for bees and her eager imagination for crime as she watches unsuspecting travellers on trains.