Without question, Donna Leon is my favorite mystery writer. Author of 20 novels, she is an American woman who has lived abroad teaching English for approximately 30 years, most of which time she has spent in Venice, the setting of her many novels and the city she loves. I have read all of her books and have become involved with her main characters to the extent that I feel as though I know them as family. When she visited a Twin Cities bookstore recently I was quite charmed by her. Interestingly, she is also involved with an opera company in Italy which is largely supported economically by her, for whom music is a passion. To learn more about this woman, click here.
