Donna Leon
Author of Death at La Fenice
About the Author
Donna Leon was born on September 29, 1942 in Montclair, New Jersey. She taught English literature in England, Switzerland, Iran, China, Italy and Saudi Arabia. She is the author of a Commissario Guido Brunetti Mystery series. Friends in High Places, a novel from the series, won the Crime Writers show more Association Macallan Silver Dagger for Fiction in 2000. German Television has produced 16 Commissario Brunetti mysteries for broadcast. She was a crime reviewer for the Sunday Times. She has written the libretto for a comic opera and has set up her own opera company, Il Complesso Barocco. Her titles Jewels of Pardise, The Golden Egg, By Its Cover, Falling in Love and The Waters of Eternal Youth made The New York Times Bestseller List. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Image credit: Photo credit: Mariusz Kubik, Warsaw, Sept. 27, 2005
Series
Works by Donna Leon
Dressed for Death | A Venetian Reckoning | Quietly in Their Sleep | A Noble Radiance (1996) 8 copies
Lasset die Kinder zu mir kommen, Sanft entschlafen,in Sachen Signora Brunetti,Venezianisvche Scherade,venezianisches… (2003) 6 copies
Death at La Fenice and Friends in High Places [video] — Original novel — 3 copies
SOS Title Unknown 3 copies
Death in a Strange Country & Dressed for Death ( the Anonymous Venetian): a Commissario Guido Brunetti Mystery (1994) 2 copies
Ölüm ve Hüküm 1 copy
Esclaus del desig 1 copy
Acqua alta 1 copy
En el nombre del hijo 1 copy
Una Historia Propia 1 copy
Smrt u stranoj zemlji 1 copy
18 titres 1 copy
Donna Leon : entrevista 1 copy
Piedras ensangrentadas 1 copy
Associated Works
Quietly in Their Sleep and Acqua Alta [video] — Original novel — 3 copies
La Maga Abbandonata [sound recording] — Author — 2 copies
Death in a Strange Country and A Sea of Troubles [video] — Original novel — 2 copies
Doctored Evidence and Uniform Justice [video] — Original novel — 2 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Birthdate
- 1942-09-29
- Gender
- female
- Nationality
- USA (birth)
Switzerland (2020) - Birthplace
- Montclair, New Jersey, USA
- Places of residence
- Venice, Italy
Val Müstair, Graubünden, Switzerland
Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland - Occupations
- professor (Literature)
novelist - Agent
- Diogenes Verlag, Zürich
- Short biography
- Donna Leon has lived in Venice for about 30 years. She was a lecturer in English Literature for the University of Maryland University College-Europe in Italy, and then a professor at the American military base of Vicenza. She stopped teaching to concentrate on writing and other cultural activities, especially Baroque music.
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Discussions
La Serenissima & Dordogne Mystery Read Along in 75 Books Challenge for 2021 (January 2022)
La Serenissima & Dordogne Mystery Read Along in 75 Books Challenge for 2020 (January 2021)
Reviews
Lists
Donna Leon (23)
Favorite Series (1)
Europe (1)
Spirit of Place (2)
Books Read in 2021 (11)
Opera in fiction (4)
Books Read in 2020 (11)
Awards
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Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 75
- Also by
- 19
- Members
- 40,597
- Popularity
- #433
- Rating
- 3.7
- Reviews
- 1,464
- ISBNs
- 1,757
- Languages
- 25
- Favorited
- 94
For me, the real pleasure in reading a new Brunetti novel lies less with the details of the mystery at the heart of the story and more with the incredible sense of time and place that the author creates. Indeed, as has been the case in so many of the previous volumes in this series, the city of Venice—with both its incomparable beauty and its many warts— once again becomes the main focus. Leon’s descriptions of the city as it passes through the changing seasons are simply stunning and so evocative that, for readers familiar with La Serenissima, it is easy to follow along in the footsteps of the people as they go about their daily lives. Beyond that, each new book brings us back in touch with what are by now a beloved collection of characters, starting with Brunetti and his wife Paola, as well as Brunetti’s trusted associates Claudia Griffoni, Enzo Bocchese, and Signorina Elettra in this tale.
As to the actual plot of A Refiner’s Fire, I enjoyed the historical basis for the story, which was a more pronounced feature here than in most of the books that have come before it. The author does a nice job of weaving harrowing facts from the past with some creative modern fictional elements to make a compelling narrative in which the myriad pieces fit together quite nicely. My only quibble (if that is even the right word to use) would be that the ending felt a little rushed given the elaborate set up that preceded it and that not all the plotlines seemed to be fully resolved. Also, while I have always appreciated the thoughtful and allusive way in which Leon chooses the titles for these novels, I thought that this one—with its apparent Biblical reference—was particularly obscure and left me wondering until the very end how it tied into the story. Those minor points aside, this was an extremely satisfying reading experience from a talented author who, having now produced 33 volumes in this series, remains at the top of her game.… (more)