How does Donna Leon use imagery in Death at La Fenice?

Examples of Imagery:

"The scent that mingled with the coffee was equally distinctive, the cutting, sour almond smell she had only read about."

"He saw the signs of desperate poverty: the cement sink with only one faucet, the lack of refrigerator or stove, the moldy patches on the walls. He smelled, more than he saw, the poverty, smelled it in the fetid air, the stink of sewer common on the ground floors of Venice, of the salami and cheese left open and unrefrigerated on the counter, and smelled it from the raw, unwashed odor that seeped across to him from the blankets and shawls heaped on the old woman's chair."