Series: Commissario Brunetti
by Author Donna Leon
Uniform Justice (2004)
12th in the Commissario Brunetti series, set in Venice, Italy.[return][return]A young student is found hanging from the ceiling of a bathroom in the military academy of San Martino. It is an apparent suicide. To complicate matters, however, the dead boy is the son of a former politician who ros...
Acqua Alta (2004)
I really like Donna Leon. I hope she continues to write forever. Her books are always literate and interesting with marvelous characters. The plots are intricate even if her view of Italian society is dark indeed. For example, in Acqua Alta, a woman is seriously beaten by some thugs. Her partn...
Wilful Behaviour (2003)
tShe had been lecturing, recently, on the theme of honor and honorable behavior and the way it was central to Wharton's three great novels, but she was preoccupied with whether the concept still had the same meaning for her students; indeed, whether it had any meaning for her students…. Though s...
Blood from a Stone (2006)
She dipped a corner of a biscuit in her caffè latte, ate it, and continued. "Never once have I heard anyone say, 'Yes, Gemma's really not very bright, so I understand why she didn't do well in mathematics,' or, 'Nanni is a bit of a dope, you know, especially at languages.' Not a bit of it. The...
Doctored Evidence (2004)
"Um amigo seu inglês observara, certa ocasião, que viver ali era como viver num loony bin. Brunetti não fazia ideia do que era um loony bin, nem onde ficava, mas isso não o impedira de acreditar que o amigo estava certo. Com o tempo, pôde comprovar que era uma descrição precisa de Itália."O décim...
A Sea of Troubles (2015)
Though I like or even love all the Donna Leon Commissario Brunetti books I've read so far, I have to admit that this is the closest to a seriously exciting, even horrible, climax that I've read so far. Leon has taken a strong character and given him personal dilemmas that far outweigh the murder...
A Noble Radiance (2003)
Brunetti was satisfied to see that he had been right about the coda. It was decorated with sprigs of rosemary, and a radish.t"Why do they do that to food?" he asked, pointing with his chin at the Count's plate.t"Is that a real question or a criticism of the service?" the Count asked.tt"Just a qu...
Dressed for Death (2005)
Not my favorite Donna Leon-- a bit more grizzly and sordid than some-- but really worth the read for the start of Chapter Twenty-Three, in which our hero, Commissario of Police Guido Brunetti, having a rare night home alone without his wife and children, cooks his supper and reads Tacitus' Annals...
Friends in High Places (2001)
Much crime fiction is transportable. Change the names of the streets, adjust the thermometer, translate the ciao's and the auf widersehen's and the seeya's and the actual mechanics of the plot will often work as well in Rome as they do in Boston or Berlin. But not with Donna Leon's novels. Venice...
Death at La Fenice (2004)
I was wanted to start a new police procedural series and after doing some research decided to begin the Commissario Brunetti series by Donna Leon. The ratings were high on Goodreads and Lj, an avid police procedural reader I follow, rated a number of books in the series quite highly.One of my se...
Fatal Remedies (2000)
Fatal Remedies[return]Donna Leon[return][return]8th in the Commisario Brunetti series, set in Venice, Italy.[return][return]An early morning phone call from the Questura summons Brunetti to complete the arrest, for vandalism, of--Paola, his wife. She s thrown a rock through the window of a trave...
Death and Judgment (2006)
Of all the Donna Leon mysteries I have read, this one was my least favorite. Don't get me wrong - it was very good, full of the usual: well-developed characters,plot twists, and the beautiful sites of Venice. This one was just too melancholy for me, full of the hopelessness of poverty, the ruthle...
Death in a Strange Country (2005)
It would have been easy for Brunetti to grow indifferent to the beauty of the city, to walk in the midst of it, looking and not really seeing. But then it always happened: a window he had never noticed before would swim into his ken, or the sun would gleam in an archway, and he would actually f...
Quietly in Their Sleep (2007)
3.5 stars actually. One reviewer was repelled by the descriptions of Catholic priests, nuns, and orders and compared this to Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code. I think that comparison a bit far-fetched, since unlike Brown, Leon does not use thoroughly discredited out-of-date source material to atte...
Suffer the Little Children (2007)
Anyone who has ever raised a child can relate to the heartache that Dr. Gustavo Pedrolli experiences when the Carabinieri burst into his home and removed his adopted 18-month-old son from his care, and violently attacked Pedrolli. As it turns out, Pedrolli had gone around the regulations in orde...
Reiches Erbe (2011)
Twentieth episode in the Brunetti series but arguably the weakest of the four I have read so far. Certain plot elements are left hanging as if the author was changed course mid-novel. Possibly she stumbled on a very good characterisation in her classic Brunetti theme set piece moment and felt com...
Muerte entre lineas (2014)
Una tarde, el comisario Brunetti recibe la llamada desesperada del director de una biblioteca veneciana. Diversos libros antiguos de gran valor han desaparecido. Los bibliotecarios sospechan del hombre que pidió consultar los volúmenes, un catedrático de la Universidad de Kansas. El único proble...
Uskon asia (2010)
This is the first Donna Leon book I have read and I guess it just isn't my thing. It wasn't long enough to properly build intrigue and suspense in the murder mystery. I felt no connection to any of the characters. It was set in Venoce in August and every page had at least one reference to the ...
Brunetti et le mauvais augure (2010)
As I'm going out of town soon, have to juggle what I read when (ie, what I take with me and send from where I go)... as I have a few Donna Leons to send to the same person, I realized I should get this one read too. This was perfect for a day with a train journey to take care of some administrati...
About Face (2009)
Brooding post modern excursion into corruption at almost every level. Illegal disposal of toxic wastes, hospital refuse, and other garbage is big money, with Mafia connections to business leaders, politicos, and labor leaders alike. Garbage from all over Europe is being illegally dumped, someti...
Schöner Schein (2009)
I had a hard time getting into this one. Maybe because his wife isn't in it as much? Hard to say. The story wasn't all that interesting to me, though I still love the characters. I've also noticed that the author follows the "Perry Mason" model, where the reader doesn't have enough information to...
A Question of Belief (2010)
In A Question of Belief, Commissario Brunetti must contend with ingenious corruption, bureaucratic intransigence, and the stifling heat of a Venetian summer. With his hometown beset by hordes of tourists and baking under a glaring sun, Brunetti’s greatest wish is to go to the mountains with his f...
Drawing Conclusions (2011)
Another solid Brunetti story. As relaxing as a warm bath, these books are charming. It is a real change in detective fiction to be dealing with a detective who is neither alcoholic or in marriage ruined by his job. Brunetti has a wife and two children whom he loves and the backdrop of a Venetian ...