I grab "Death in a Strange Country" - the second Brunetti case - and on its first page I read:
"The body floated face down in the canal. [...] The head bumped a few times against the moss covered steps of the embankment in front of the Basilica of Santi Giovanni e Paolo, lodged there for a moment, then shifted free [...]. Close by the bells of the church chimed [...]."
At once I visualize this scene - because I photographed it only a few days earlier, on July 18th during my recent visit to Venice. Here the panoramic picture of the Campo SS Giovanni e Paolo, stitched together out of several single shots (click here to see it in its original size):
It's all there: On the left the canal where the body is found, in the middle the church Santi Giovanni e Paolo with its red facade - and on the right in the background you can see the bar where Brunetti drinks a caffè in chapter two of the novel. ;-)
The canal you can see on the left leads to the cemetry island San Michele - and of course it's just a conicidence that the hospital of Venice is located at this canal ... You can see the hospital's entrance here - it's the white building to the left of the church, named "Scuola di San Marco". It's used as a hospital since 1815.
The police headquarters - the Questura - is located only a short walk away from this Campo, and that's where Brunetti heads after he has drunken his morning caffè ...
