Rating: 
Summary: Aaaah, Venezia...
Review: Guido Brunetti is a quiet, witty, polite, intelligent and determined police inspector. He doesn't get along with his boss and doesn't fit in with his aristocratic in-laws, but he doesn't swear and he rarely yells. And he loves his city, Venice. That's the best part of the novel, Brunetti's wistful romantic musings about his beloved Venice: the food, the opera, the canals, the narrow streets, the ancient staircases, the ridiculous addresses, the bureaucratic red tape. This is a fun book if you're more interested in atmosphere than mystery, suspense, tough-talkin' cops and/or violence. Look else where (like Andrea Camilleri's recently translated Salvo Montalbano series) if you like your mysteries hard-boiled.
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Summary: Excellent Mystery with an Opera Background
Review: I have little to add to the twenty-five reviews of this mystery from 1992 set in Venice's jewel-box of an opera house, La Fenice, except to add what no one else seems to have thought worth mentioning. That is that the 'world-famous conductor' who is the murder victim in this story is clearly modeled after Herbert von Karajan. Such things as his being wanted all over the world, his flying in for one performance before jetting off to another part of the world, the questions about his participation in Nazidom during World War II and so on are clearly references to him.
Aside from that, however, the plot is neatly done, the descriptions of Venice are evocative, the dolce far niente attitudes of Italian culture (particularly that of the Sicilian chief of the Venetian police department) are all drawn with a wickedly funny flair.
Recommended, but particularly for those who love opera.
Scott Morrison
Rating:
Summary: Sober and elegant
Review: I loved this book. Venice is described as a provincial, everyday little town, a feeling I can recognize being Italian and from the Veneto region. Commissario Brunetti is a modern-day equivalent of Simenon's Maigret: a serious, honest anti-hero. And the analysis of the Italian society is, as in Simenon, sober yet deep, subtle yet elegant. Clearly, the author has a knowledge of practical life in Italy, of regional differences, of the contrasts between a modern elite and the unionized underclass. An italian version would certainly be appreciated by many readers.
Rating: 
Summary: A BIG BORING QUESTIONING
Review: I think, Donna Leon is a very good writer. What I mean is, that she's got a very good writing style, but unfortunately she is a very very bad screenplay-writer. What I want to say is that in this book, there is just too much times the same plot, there are not enough exciting parts which would bring a real progress in the case. It's just always the same story, about twenty times in the book, Brunetti goes to someone and talks with him, but he doesn't find out anything intresting that would bring a bit of excitement in this boring questionings. The end is really good and logical, but I think that this good part only contains about 30-40 pages, and that's not enough to make a crimestory worth to be read. I think, perhaps I should read another book written by Donna Leon, to get used to her style and to Guido, who is very sympathic to me, but I don't know if I'll have the power to manage this incredible boreness during 95% of a book once again....
Rating: 
Summary: Bene, Grazie
Review: I'll tag this review to Death at La Fenice because it is the first and perhaps the best known of the Donna Leon mystery novels, although I wouldn't necessarily say it is the best (or maybe it is: I don't have an opinion on that one). More pointedly, for several years, to be about the only one you could find with any regularity at a Barnes & Noble or a Borders. Funny, because they seemed to stay in print, and they were easily come by in England (and, of course, Italy). That may be changing: I get the impression they are being promoted more aggressively right now than ever before. Still, my take is that they remain sufficiently obscure that they could do with a little more tub-thumping. The question is-what do you read mysteries for? I suppose those who really care about plot - who set the book down at page 150 and try to sort it out for themselves. I confess I've never been that kind of a mystery reader - far too passive, and anyway, just not that good at it. The other reason to read a mystery is for all the throwaway "knowledge" you get, or think you are getting along the way. Sherlock Holmes for London Fog. Joe Leaphorn for Navajo Indians. Lovejoy for antiques. And, of course, Donna Leon for Venice. I gather from the dust jackets that she is an American who has spent a good chunk of her life teaching English in Italy. The corollary is that she answers the kinds of questions about Italy that I would want to ask. I guess you'd say I've spent just enough time there to know that I don't know very much. And I've got enough paranoia and gullibility to be a sucker for more. Leon fills this bill nicely. She makes it clear that she still sees Venice as heart-stoppingly beautiful. And she has some kind words about the food (odd, that - Italy might be my first choice for food, but in Italy, not Venice). And she's a great hater: hates the Mafia, the Vatican, the American military (in no particular order) - along with neo-Stalinist architecture, the kid sex trade, and a long list more. For this, you can forgive some shortcomings. In a field where the bar of plausibility has never been set high, her protagonist surely ranks as one of the most implausible. She clearly thinks him sweet and loveable: I confess I just find him saintly, but I'll forgive him that. The plots are uneven - some seem pretty tricky, others less so, but as I say, I'm not sure it counts for a lot. And she can be a bit of a scold.
But she's got a nice feminine knack for making me feel (while I'm reading her) that I'm just the most knowing guy in the world. Just you and me and Inspector Brunetti, eh Donna? Nice feeling. Bene, grazie.
Rating:
Summary: superb debut
Review: I've read Leon's books out of order, but I don't think it really matters. They are simply excellent, however you read them. Death at la Fenice is the first, and is surprisingly assured and polished for a debut that was written after a challenge from a friend. Given that this is a first performance, Leon was clearly a natural writer for this genre. This is the first apearance of Guido Brunetti, who is called in to investigate after the death of an eminent conductor part-way through a performance of La Triviata. He was poisoned in his dressing room. The press will be baying for a solution; with every day that passes when this murderer roams free a great slur is wrought on the name of Venice. As Brunetti diligently digs away, he uncovers a portrait of a complex and fascinating man, but one who has made a very unhealthy number of enemies on his way to the top... Anyone anywhere who is a fan of crime novels simply cannot ignore Donna Leon. You must pick up one of her sublime books immediately, and you are gauranteed enjoyment. There is such an easy to the writing, and she plots so very well. It moves along at excellent pace, and all manner of secrets and suspects creep fromt he woodwork, and she still manages to produce an absolutely astounding solution which is incredibly satisfying indeed, despite the fact that it seems to break one crime fictions golden rules. That matters not, though; Donna Leon can do absolutely anything. In terms of crime novels, she can do no wrong at all. Death at la Fenice is a first-class piece of fiction, and Venice makes for an inspired backdrop which she utilises very well indeed. Buy it.
Rating:
Summary: *Way* Better Than Most Other Contemporary Mystery Writers!
Review: If I remember right, I first came across this mystery series completely by accident. With time, though, I've become an utterly devoted fan of Donna Leon. It's highly unfortunate that her books have fallen out of print in the USA. Just recently, however, they've started reappearing in these paperback editions. "La Fenice" is the first in the series. You don't have to read them in order, but it does add to your experience if you do. Donna Leon is a GREAT writer! I guarantee that you will utterly adore the characters in these novels. All the stories take place in Venice, Italy (near where Leon lives and teaches English). Herein, we follow the life and investigations of Vice-Commisario Guido Brunetti. There's a certain brutality and social consciousness to *all* the crimes Brunetti ultimately uncovers (the brutality "off-camera" for the most part). Meanwhile, we follow (as the novels progress) Brunetti's family life, and the development of his relationship with his wife and children. Extremely good books, on all counts. I rather suspect the reason these books have been virtually ignored in the USA is that Commisario Brunetti's wife is a professed Communist. Brunetti, on the other hand, does not share this point of view. Their diverse polical views create a necessary tension, yet it's interesting how often their practical goals regarding human relationships are really much the same. These are very European novels, obviously. And they are absolutely some of the *best* mysteries you will ever read. VERY highly recommended!
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Summary: A Quiet Type of Mystery
Review: In her first mystery of the series featuring Brunetti, Ms. Leon returns to the more quiet, refined and thoughtful type of mystery. I actually somewhat figured out the ending with about 50 pages to go, but that didn't reduce my pleasure in the book one iota. This book is the antithesis of the all-action, slash and burn, high intensity thrillers typlified by Robert Crais and James Patterson. These other books have there good points, but it is important to note that Donna Leon's series is very different. In the Brunetti books one learns about, and enjoys, Venice and Italian culture. One really cares, for good or evil, about the characters in her book. They are developed slowly and with style. The only comparison I can think of for Donna Leon is the great French detective writer Simenon and Inspector Maigret.
Rating:
Summary: One more excellent book from Donna Leon
Review: It's so colourfull and gripping from the beginning to the end. Even our kids are reading it with pleasure!
Rating:
Summary: Review of Death at La Fenice, Donna Leon
Review: Out of the famous theater of Venice, La Fenice, sounds the music of „La Traviata". It should be an amazing premiere - the singers are wonderfull and the conductor is one of the famoust in the world, Helmut Wellauer. But after the break Wellauer's not appearing on the podium. He's death, he has been poisoned with cyanide. Guido Brunetti, a middleaged Commissaro of the police, is charged with the case. Brunetti is surching for suspects. But it is difficult to get known all the many people, which knew the famous conductour, and to figure out which of them could be the murder. Is the murder found in the theater? Maybe the famous soprano, Flavia Petrelli, whose been said to have a liason with a british woman, Brett Lynch. The director of La Fenice, Franco Santore? The bariton, the tenor? Or does Mrs Wellauer, the conductors very much younger wife, have a reason to kill him? Brunetti is surching in the present relations and the past happenings of Wellauer's life.
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