Death at La Fenice: (Brunetti 1) (A Commissario Brunetti Mystery)

Product Information

A suspenseful, professional-grade north country procedural whose heroine, a deft mix of compassion and attitude, would be welcome to return and tie up the gaping loose end Box leaves. The unrelenting cold makes this the perfect beach read. Yes, you read that right. A friend of hers suggested she try a crime novel and Leon did just that. After she completed it, she stashed it away. She submitted it for the Suntory prize in Japan and ended up winning and was offered a two-book contract by Harper Collins. That is why this turned into a series and more books about the detective followed. Death at La Fenice (1992), the first novel by American academic and crime-writer Donna Leon, is the first of the internationally best-selling Commissario Brunetti mystery series, set in Venice, Italy. The novel won the Japanese Suntory prize, [1] and its sequel is Death in a Strange Country (1993). Death at La Fenice is Donna Leon’s first novel in her Guido Brunetti series, set in the beautiful city of Venice. Guido Brunetti is a commissario (detective) for the Venetian police and investigates the the death of world-famous conductor Helmut Wellauer, who was poisoned in his dressing room during an opera. The novel is written in 3rd person limited, describing Brunetti’s thoughts to the reader throughout. Brunetti must investigate Wellauer’s death as he discovers the genius had more enemies than he initially suspected. Venice is the perfect setting for this modern cozy, as Leon emphasizes the smallness and interconnectivity of the Venetian community, limiting the list of suspects to the music world of Venice.

As I said before, the author left a few things to the reader. She did not spell out everything. What she did mention more than a couple of times was Guido's totally carefree disposition to accept drinks from everyone. Mostly strangers. This was cultural, but then Italy is both the country of knifing and poisoning, so I was left wondering what was happening with those pegs. The chief of Guido was nicely made up. In more ways than one too. He is a narcissistic, impatient, stupid, selfish, and lazy officer who got his job because he knew the right people. I find it interesting that among all these characters, Leon made this minor one the best looking one in the book. The character, called Patta, is very vivid to me. I pictured a middle aged Brandon Quinn as him. The first book in the internationally bestselling Guido Brunetti detective series in which a high society murder leads Guido to investigate the darker side of beautiful Venice. To do this, he has to dig into Wellauer's past and try to figure out what kind of man he was. This takes many chapters, and lots of interviews over the phone and in restaurants with a variety of people who worked with the conductor over the years. The pace moves slowly, and there are very few major plot-twisting revelations until the very end, where everything suddenly speeds up and I kept expecting Brunetti to put on his sunglasses and tell someone that This Shit Just Got Real. A world-famous German opera conductor has died at La Fenice, and Commissario (Detective) Guido Brunetti pursues what appears to be a murder investigation without leads.As it happens the conductor was not loved by everyone in his orchestra, or even by those closest to him, which means the suspect list is lengthy and Brunetti will have to go through a tedious process of elimination. As Brunetti investigates, the Venetian architecture, and scenery is described in glorious detail.

The worst crime novel I read.....and one of the worst books I've read. It's a caricature of a novel. It's so bad, I felt it is an insult to books- even the most trashy writing is way better and can at least be considered a guilty pleasure. Here you feel the guilt for reading this, but no pleasure. It's guilty torture. On some level, it fascinates me how someone can write this badly. It fascinates me more than the fact that this book got published and read. In a way, reading this book was educational. Being able to write this badly has to be an accomplishment of some sort. I've never seen anyone mess up...every possible aspect of the book. I wasn’t blown away by this but it’s the first in a long series and so I assume they get better. I chose to read it only because I’m going to Venice in September and wanted to get in the mood! It’s very well written, however, and so I’ll probably be tempted to read more. He glanced up into the horseshoe of the still darkened hall, tried to smile, failed, and abandoned the attempt. “Excuse, ladies and, gentlemen, the difficulty. The opera will now continue.” Come on, Paola, you know I’m always wrong when I try to work by intuition, when I suspect too much or I suspect too soon.” (199)This is the first time I've read the one that started them all. I can't remember when I read my first Commissario Brunetti mystery, but I loved them from the start. First and foremost, they are set in Venice and La Serenissima is most definitely a presence. From the vaporetti to the feral cats, Leon captures the essence of the city until you can almost smell the sea. The first to talk were the players in the orchestra. A second violinist leaned over to the woman next to him and asked if she had made her vacation plans. In the second row, a bassoonist told an oboist that the Benetton sales were starting next day. The people in the first tiers of boxes, who could best see the musicians, soon imitated their soft chatter. The galleries joined in, and then those in orchestra seats, as though the wealthy would be the last to give in to this sort of behavior.