Als Brunetti noch vielversprechend war: Als ich vor nunmehr vierzehn Jahren zum ersten Mal diesen Brunetti-Erstling gelesen habe, war ich ziemlich angetan. Venedig und Opernatmosphäre, noch dazu in einem Krimi, das war ganz nach meinem Geschmack.
Zwar hätte ich mir schon damals ruhig ein bisschen mehr Nervenkitzel gewünscht, aber die Geschichte um einen ermordeten Dirigenten in Venedigs Prachttheater La Fenice war auch so ganz ok, ein ganz gepflegter Unterhaltungskrimi halt ohne viel Gewalt und ziemlich geradlinig.
Stilistisch pflegt Donna Leon eine eher metaphernreiche Sprache, die gelegentlich etwas übertrieben blumige Vergleichsfloskeln zutage bringt. Aber es liest sich zumindest sehr flüssig.
Am meisten Spaß macht es bei Leons Krimis, sich in der eigenen Phantasie durch Venedig zu bewegen. Die Stimmung und Schauplätze sind recht anschaulich geschildert.
Deswegen kann ich dieses Buch auch guten Gewissens empfehlen.
Was für die Folgebücher nur noch sehr bedingt gilt. Die Erwartungen, die ich an die nächsten Brunetti-Geschichten stellte, wurden teilweise herb enttäuscht.

Donna Leon's First Detective (Commissario) Brunetti crime story and a perfect place to start. A fine, tight murder investigation leads to a satisfying end. Great characterization and wonderful sense of place- Venice. Read this and go on to read the rest. A delightful feature is the sprinkling of Italian language and culture- not too such and not too little. I think the author knows how to cook.
James Pope ( )

Death at La Fenice is the first of Donna Leon's series featuring Guido Brunetti, a commissario of in the Venice police department. One evening Brunetti is called to the La Fenice opera house - world-famous conductor Maestro Helmut Wellauer has been found dead at the intermission of the inaugural performance. Wellauer was a musical genius, but not a well-loved one. To find the killer, Brunetti must sort through the suspects, including the much-younger widow, the lead soprano, the soprano's beautiful and wealthy partner, the opera's director, and a woman from Wellauer's past.

I enjoyed this book, but I had really hoped to love it. One of my LT friends lists this as among her favorite books, and because our tastes in mysteries are so close I figured I would love it as much as she does. However, I think my expectations were too high. I found a beautifully written book with wonderfully well-drawn characters (including Venice, a character in and of herself), but a pretty light mystery. I had a good idea of the reason for the murder about two-thirds of the way through the book. There wasn't too much suspense, nor was there a great puzzle to work out. However, as I said, the characters are wonderful. I am hopeful that because this is the first book of the series, Leon is laying the groundwork so that she can build some great mysteries in the series. I will keep reading the series, as I find the characters and setting intriguing - I am hopeful that the mysteries become just as intriguing. ( )

Enjoyable read for anyone who loves traditional, old-fashioned murder mysteries (e.g., Sherlock Holmes, Josephine Tey). Good character development - requires some patience for those accustomed to page-turning thrillers, but the detail allows the author to paint a vivid picture of the city and civilian life in Venice. ( )

This is the first novel in a mystery series featuring Commissario Guido Brunetti of the Venice police force. This is a good introduction to the series with an interesting story and well developed characters that come to life for the reader. The story revolves around the victim, a world renowned music conductor who is murdered between acts of a performance of La Traviata. One of the reasons that this book appealed to me so much was because I spent a week in Venice when I was in college and saw a performance of La Traviata at the opera house while I was there. The atmosphere of the book brought back many memories. I remember vividly walking the winding streets (sometimes getting lost!) and riding gondolas on the canals and as I read I felt almost like I was there once again it seemed so familiar. Highly recommended—4 stars ( )