Acqua Alta (a.k.a., Death in High Water) (1996)

(one of 24 books found today at 2nd hand shop...24 for $10!) ( )

This is the second book of the Commissario Guido Brunetti series that I have read (not the second book of the series, however). One of the things I really enjoy about this book is the wonderful family life that Guido enjoys. I also enjoyed that he did not always follow police procedure. This happened at a point in the book when I found myself wishing that, with all the corruption of the Italian police forces, our hero might have a little misbehavior up his sleeve.

I also liked that the main characters also included a pair of lesbians portrayed as very talented and devoted in a country where homosexuality is not accepted.

What I did not enjoy, is feeling like an outsider sometimes when Italian words weren't translated for the reader. At one point a line from an opera was quoted and it felt like it was assumed the reader would know what it meant and how it pertained to the story. It felt like I was being left out of a joke.

And, after reading this book, I really have no desire to visit Venice as spring floods matched with cold miserable weather do not paint an attractive picture. ( )

The 5th installment of Donna Leon's Commissario Brunetti series returns characters from the first book of the series to the beautiful Venetian setting and then makes it turn ugly with a vicious beating and death threats.

Guido Brunetti realizes that a friend, Brett Lynch, an archeologist that specializes in Chinese ceramics, has return when he is presented with a report about the vicious assault by men, putting her in the hospital. He gathers information about the beating which was a warning for her to avoid a meeting with the Museum director in Venice, Semenzato. When he is found dead in his office, Brunetti, starts to piece together an intricately woven conspiracy surrounding theft and substitution of rare art objects.
Guido's determination to protect his friend and to identify the perpetrators, is documented with the backdrop of the rain season which brings the "high water" (acqua alta) through which Brunetti was wade to find all the clues that finally lead him to the answers he seeks.

If only the real world mysteries could be solved in the same manner by policemen like Commissario Guido Brunetti who often disregards the method of gaining information so that justice can be achieved. I am really looking forward to the next installment. ( )

Much has already been written about this ongoing and charming series. Commissario Guido Brunetti and his wife Paola (a college English professor) are urbane, educated, sophisticated and have inherited wealth. Their enjoyment of literature, good wine, travel, and opera adds a degree of sophistication one doesn't always find in the ordinary gumshoe series. At the same time, Brunetti has to deal with an pompous 'if it's not my idea it won't work' boss who wants to know everything, take credit for everything good and who disavows anything that goes wrong; two teen-aged off-spring (who needs to say more?) and the Italian criminal justice system, which does not always work the way the ethical Brunetti would like it too. Guido is too much the practical Italian though to let little things like disregard for the law get in his way.

This episode concerns a ring of antiques dealers/museum curators who are not happy when their theft of precious art objects and substitution of fakes is discovered by an American professor. The subsequent crime spree that follows as they try to rid themselves of witnesses and evidence is set against the background of the "Acqua Alta"--a periodic Venetian weather phenomenon that occurs when the rains and winds combine with high tides to produce floods of various heights, making getting around the city difficult if not impossible.

As she tells the story, Leon weaves into the plot the antipathy of Venetians for southern Italians, the homophobia of Italian males towards two of the women in the story, and every parent's fears of discovering a teenager who may be engaging in unhealthy/illegal activity. Nothing more to say---I don't want to spoil it. ( )

Acqua Alta is the fifth in Donna Leon's series featuring Commissario Guido Brunetti, a Venetian police detective. Brunetti discovers that a friend, archaeologist and Chinese ceramics expert Brett Lynch, has been savagely beaten and is in the hospital. He visits Brett and her lover, opera diva Flavia Petrelli, in the hospital and discovers that, during the beating, Brett was warned not to keep her meeting with Venetian museum Director, Semenzato. When Semenzato is found dead, killed with an ancient brick, Brunetti begins to piece together a mystery surrounding stolen artifacts, sold on the black market in Italy and around the world.

In many ways, Acqua Alta is the most "traditional" of the series to date - a real page turner. The ever-present Italian corruption is present, but mostly as background. Venice is again a major character, but this time is more sinister, as the cold flood waters rise and fall, creating obstacles and ambiance that gives the story a creepier feeling than earlier works. It's nice to see Brett Lynch and Flavia Petrelli again - they were featured in Death at La Fenice and are the primary characters (along with Brunetti) in this book. Overall, a great entry in the Brunetti series. ( )