by Donna Leon - (19 Jun 2011 - 00:00)
BookDrawingConclusions :
Drawing Conclusions is the 20th in the Brunetti series. Though I enjoyed the book, it seemed that it was not really up to the generally high standard of the series. The characters seemed a bit wooden, like puppets rather than fully formed characters. It is as if the author is getting tired of her characters and simply going through the motions. Don't get me wrong: if this book were written by another author I would rate it highly and recommend it. But it's just not up to Donna Leon's standards.One thing that bothered me was a change in the relationship between Brunetti and signorina Elettra. It is as if all the previous books had not been written; as though Brunetti has suddenly forgotten all the computer forensics investigations a.k.a. hacking that Elettra has done at his request, with his reluctant approval.And Brunetti's family life was given very short attention. Neither of his children were present long enough for a reader to get any sense of their character. And his wife, Paola, has changed: she seems to have become a bit reactionary. I mean, she has been passionate about politics in the past, but it has always been in the cause of justice and compassion. Now she seems to have moved to the right.I hope there are a few more books to come in this series. This one wasn't bad, but it wouldn't be one I would recommend to someone who hasn't read Donna Leon previously.
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About Face - Commissario Guido Brunetti #18
by Donna Leon - (05 Jun 2011 - 00:00)
BookAboutFace :
I really don't want to write a negative review of this novel. I have read the previous 17 novels in the Brunetti series with great pleasure. The series has been consistently excellent, with well-drawn and believable characters, a nice mixture of politics and plot, irony and compassion. Eventually, though, nearly every mystery series hits the wall; the story elements don't gel, the characters get stale, the author loses the initial passion that made the series come alive. Has this happened here? I don't know.
The usual themes are present: corruption, the mafia, environmental destruction, bureaucratic incompetence. But the elements are introduced seemingly randomly - the murder victim seems entirely peripheral to the story. He was a businessman blackmailed into helping the mafia illegally transport toxic waste from elsewhere in Europe to Marghera, the chemical/petroleum processing region just outside Venice. But most of the story centers on the young wife of an elderly and very wealthy businessman with whom Brunetti's father-in-law had planned to invest. The woman had what appeared to be excessive plastic surgery on her face; excessive enough that it was difficult to look at her. Brunetti found her fascinating because she shared Brunetti's taste for classic literature. There are quite a number of plot twists along the way, but in the end you are left wondering whether there was one story or three, and how they were meant to relate to one another.
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A Question of Belief - Commissario Brunetti #19
by Donna Leon - (29 Aug 2010 - 00:00)
BookQuestionBelief :
This time it is August in Venice, blazingly hot, and Brunetti is looking forward to two weeks in the mountains with his family. He has taken on two off the books investigations: a judge who seems to have a pattern of delaying civil trials to the benefit of one of the parties, and a charlatan who is taking large sums of money from elderly ladies. Putting those informal investigations on hold, Brunetti is on the train with his family when he is called back to Venice to investigate a murder: a court clerk who was possibly implicated in the corrupt judge investigation.
As always in the Brunetti series there is both more and less to the story than appears at first sight, and there is great sadness in the lives and deaths of the victims, and tragedy in the absence of justice for those who commit crimes amid the pervasive corruption of modern Italy.
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The Girl of His Dreams - A Commissario Guido Brunetti Mystery
by Donna Leon - (08 Jul 2008 - 00:00)
BookGirlHisDreams :
Something has happened to Donna Leon, at least insofar as Paula Brunetti is Leon's proxy. The hard-edges are off, the passionate contempt for the church has been replaced by something more like benign indifference. And Vianello, normally very broad-minded, has become a bit of a bigot towards Italy's recent immigrants. He's ashamed of his bigotry, but it is there and can't be retracted.
Maybe the level of crime caused by the eastern European immigrants has finally gotten to Leon. I'm sure there's a real problem, but it is disappointing that Leon seems to have succumbed, even to a small extent, to an issue that motivates the right-wing.
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The Girl of His Dreams - Commissario Brunetti #17
by Donna Leon - (08 Jul 2008 - 00:00)
BookGirlOfHisDreams :
Something has happened to Donna Leon, at least insofar as Paula Brunetti is Leon's proxy. The hard-edges are off, the passionate contempt for the church has been replaced by something more like benign indifference. And Vianello, normally very broad-minded, has become a bit of a bigot towards Italy's recent immigrants. He's ashamed of his bigotry, but it is there and can't be retracted.
Maybe the level of crime caused by the eastern European immigrants has finally gotten to Leon. I'm sure there's a real problem, but it is disappointing that Leon seems to have succumbed, even to a small extent, to an issue that motivates the right-wing.
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Wilful Behaviour - Commissario Brunetti #11
by Donna Leon - (06 Jul 2008 - 00:00)
BookWilfulBehaviour :
Willful Behavior gives us a look at how Italy addresses its fascist past. For the most part Italians have not faced up to that past, preferring to pretend that they were all democrats all along, and that Mussolini and his gang were an anomaly, best forgotten. In this story we are shown the legacy of art works stolen by the fascist government and its agents from people who had to flee the country or die. The granddaughter of one of those thieves asks for, first, Paula Brunetti's, then Guido Brunetti's help in finding out if it is possible to reverse the legal judgment against her grandfather. But soon the girl, a college student, is found murdered in her apartment. In his investigation, Brunetti uncovers a history of theft and corruption going back to the 30s and continuing to the present day.
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by Donna Leon - (03 May 2008 - 22:27)
AuthorDonnaLeon :
Genre :
fiction
Author of the Guido Brunetti series of police procedurals set in Venice. Excellent series.
includeauthorsearch Donna Leon
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Wilful Behaviour
by AuthorDonnaLeon Donna Leon - (23 Mar 2008 - 02:26)
BookWilfulBehavior :
Willful Behavior gives us a look at how Italy addresses its fascist past. For the most part Italians has not faced up to that past, preferring to pretend that they were all democrats all along, and that Mussolini and his gang were an anomaly, best forgotten. In this story we are shown the legacy of art works stolen by the fascist government and its agents from people who had to flee the country or die. The granddaughter of one of those thieves asks for, first, Paula Brunetti's, then Guido Brunetti's help in finding out if it is possible to reverse the legal judgment against her grandfather. But soon the girl, a college student, is found murdered in her apartment. In his investigation, Brunetti uncovers a history of theft and corruption going back to the 30s and continuing to the present day.
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A Sea of Troubles
by AuthorDonnaLeon Donna Leon - (27 Jan 2008 - 19:33)
BookSeaOfTroubles :
Title - booktitle A Sea of Troubles
Author - author Donna Leon
Category - fiction
amazonlink 009941516X
Queue status - completed
booksearch author Donna LeonA Sea of Troubles takes place on the island of Pellestrina, one of the 2 barrier islands that enclose the lagoon of Venice. Two fishermen are murdered and their boat blown up, and none of the residents will give any information to the police. Signorina Elettra Zorzi has a cousin on the island and visits every summer, so she volunteers, against Brunetti's wishes, to go to the island to see if she can find out anything.
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Friends in High Places
by AuthorDonnaLeon Donna Leon - (03 Jan 2008 - 15:30)
BookFriendsHighPlaces :
Title - booktitle Friends in High Places
Author - author Donna Leon
Category - fiction
amazonlink 0099269325
Queue status - completed
booksearch author Donna LeonFriends in High Places is the 9th in Donna Leon's Guido Brunetti series of murder mystery / police procedurals set in Venice. The book appears to be out of print in the U.S., but is readily available in its British edition via several Amazon merchants.
As with most of the Brunetti series, the story has much to do with government corruption. In this case the means of corruption is Venetian real estate, and the outcome is murder. There is also a significant drug connection, leading to the death of one addict, and indirectly leading to the deaths of 2 others.
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Quietly in Their Sleep
by AuthorDonnaLeon Donna Leon - (29 Jun 2007 - 22:57)
BookQuietlySleep :
Title - booktitle Quietly in Their Sleep
Author - author Donna Leon
Category - fiction
bookcover 0143112201
Queue status - cancelled
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Suffer the Little Children: A Commissario Guido Brunetti Mystery
by AuthorDonnaLeon Donna Leon - (08 Jun 2007 - 14:34)
BookLeonSufferLittleChildren :
Title - booktitle Suffer the Little Children: A Commissario Guido Brunetti Mystery
Author - author Donna Leon
Category - fiction
bookcover 087113960X
Queue status - completed
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Through a Glass Darkly
by AuthorDonnaLeon Donna Leon - (23 May 2006 - 11:55)
BookGlassDarkly :
Title - booktitle Through a Glass Darkly
Author - author Donna Leon
Category - fiction
bookcover 0871139375
Queue status - completed
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Blood from a Stone
by AuthorDonnaLeon Donna Leon - (12 Apr 2006 - 12:54)
BookBloodFromStone :
Title - booktitle Blood from a Stone
Author - author Donna Leon
Category - fiction
bookcover 0871138875
Queue status - completed
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Doctored Evidence
by AuthorDonnaLeon Donna Leon - (13 Feb 2006 - 19:02)
BookDoctoredEvidence :
Title - booktitle Doctored Evidence
Author - author Donna Leon
Category - fiction
bookcover 0143035630
Queue status - completed
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Uniform Justice
by AuthorDonnaLeon Donna Leon - (27 Oct 2005 - 12:09)
BookUniformJustice :
Title - booktitle Uniform Justice
Author - author Donna Leon
Category - fiction
bookthumb 0871139030
Queue status - completed
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Fatal Remedies
by AuthorDonnaLeon Donna Leon - (22 Oct 2005 - 13:20)
BookFatalRemedies :
Title - booktitle Fatal Remedies
Author - author Donna Leon
Category - fiction
bookthumb 0099269309
Queue status - completed
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The Death of Faith
by AuthorDonnaLeon Donna Leon - (20 Oct 2005 - 15:12)
BookDeathOfFaith :
Title - booktitle The Death of Faith
Author - author Donna Leon
Category - fiction
bookthumb 0754001563
Queue status - completed
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Dressed for Death
by AuthorDonnaLeon Donna Leon - (12 May 2005 - 12:21)
BookDressedForDeath :
Title - booktitle Dressed for Death
Author - author Donna Leon
Category - fiction
bookthumb 0061094188
Queue status - completed
A middle-aged man is found dressed in women's clothing with his face bashed beyond recognition. Brunetti has immediate doubts about the theory that he was a transvestite. The investigation soon leads to a prominent attorney and the Lega della moralita . As the investigation proceeds, more murders follow, including an attempt on Brunetti's life.
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A Venetian Reckoning
by AuthorDonnaLeon Donna Leon - (06 May 2005 - 16:44)
BookVenetianReckoning :
Title - booktitle A Venetian Reckoning
Author - author Donna Leon
Category - fiction
bookthumb 0708936687
Queue status - completed
More corruption in high places, this time involving international transport and 'acquisition' of prostitutes.
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Acqua Alta
by AuthorDonnaLeon Donna Leon - (11 Apr 2005 - 18:08)
BookAcquaAlta :
Title - booktitle Acqua Alta
Author - author Donna Leon
Category - fiction
bookthumb 0142004960
Queue status - completed
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Death in a Strange Country
by AuthorDonnaLeon Donna Leon - (05 Apr 2005 - 12:18)
BookDeathStrangeCountry :
Title - booktitle Death in a Strange Country
Author - author Donna Leon
Category - fiction
bookthumb 0143034820
Queue status - completed
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Death at La Fenice
by AuthorDonnaLeon Donna Leon - (01 Apr 2005 - 14:54)
BookDeathAtLaFenice :
Title - booktitle Death at La Fenice
Author - author Donna Leon
Category - fiction
bookthumb 0061043370
Queue status - completed
An aging world-famous maestro is found dead of cyanide poisoning in his dressing room between the second and third act of La Traviata. There are few suspects and no forensics. Inspector Guido Brunetti must look to the maestro's past for clues to his death.
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A Noble Radiance
by Donna Leon - (04 Jan 2004 - 16:13)
BookNobleRadiance :
Title - booktitle A Noble Radiance
Author - author Donna Leon
Category - fiction
bookthumb 0142003190
Queue status - completed
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