langweilig: Zum Glück war es nicht mein erster Leon-Krimi, sonst wäre ich jetzt abgrundtief enttäuscht. Den ersten habe ich verschlungen, diesen empfand ich zäh wie Kaugummi: er zog sich, tröpfelte dahin, langweilte, dann kam die grausige Videobeschreibung - Horror, dann eine Autofahrt mit der Mörderin - naja, alles etwas merkwürdig - unbefriedegend, nervig, bin froh, das Buch endlich weglegen zu können ...

Death and Judgement is Donna Leon's fourth book in the Commissario Brunetti series. When a prominent Venetian lawyer is found dead on a train, murdered execution-style, Guido Brunetti is assigned to the case. At first there are no leads, but Brunetti's daughter, Chiara, knows the murdered man's daughter and discovers a bit about the family - including that the parents always warned her to be careful so that she wasn't kidnapped. This immediately leads Brunetti into thinking that perhaps the Mafia is involved. Then a second man, an accountant, is found dead of what looks like a suicide but turns out to be a murder. The two murdered men are connected, however tenuously, by calling the same seedy bar in a town outside of Venice. When the lawyer's brother-in-law is found murdered - he a prominent lawyer - Brunetti knows that he is dealing with something that could touch even the highest levels of Venetian society.

Death and Judgement is a dark book, and certainly the most cynical of the series thus far. In Leon's Venice, corruption runs rampant and the "best" citizens are often involved in the worst crimes. At one point in the book, Brunetti's wife, Paola, asks Guido why he is still with the police. I believe Brunetti's answer is something to effect that "someone has to do it," but this reader wonders how crushingly difficult it would be to know that power and money will protect even the worst criminals. At the same time, though, this is an excellent book. Eventually, the motives become clear and the crimes are solved, but the guilty parties do not pay the price for their crimes. The morally ambiguous ending seems right for our times. ( )

Another wry and cynical pas d'armes between Commissario Brunetti and the corruption of Italian society. Once again, what starts off looking like a simple crime gradually extends tendrils into the world of the powerful and wealthy of Italy, the individuals who not only view themselves as above the law but, to a certain extent, are above it.

Brunetti gave another small smile, "...we need...a list of Signor Trevisan's clients..."

"I want you to bear in mind that these are not the sort of people who are usually subject to a police investigation."

Under ordinary circumstances, Brunetti would have remarked that, except for the last few years, the police had been investigating little except "people like these,"...

Brunetti must work against the criminals, his sycophantic superior and corrupt fellow officers to try to unravel the mystery of a series of murders. In the end, he succeeds in understanding what happened and curtailing some portion of the larger problem. However, unlike the previous three books, this one does not provide a neat and satisfying ending; Leon's disenchantment with the crumbling world of her detective is felt much more strongly in this volume. Don't take this as a negative; I think the atmosphere of this story is deeper for it and I'm looking forward to reading the fifth volume. ( )

Death and Judgement
Donna Leon

4th in the Commisario Brunetti series set in Venice, Italy.

A prominent lawyer is murdered, executio-style, on the train coming home to Venice from Padova. In the midst of the ever-growing corruption scandals in the Italian government, a very successful accountant from Padova, connectedted with teh Ministry of Health, appears to have committed suicide; everyone assumes that this is in connection with the scandals involving the Ministry but the Padova police have evidence that it was really murder. Finally the lawyer’s brother-in-law is murdered. though Brunetti is convinced that all three deaths are related, but the only connection he has is a phone number of a sleazy bar in Mestre, a town just outside of Venice on the mainland.

Leon has described this book as her angriest, and it is easy to see why. She nearly always illuminates some social injustice or ugly facet of Italian or Venetian life in her books, and this one involves the world-wide trade in women for the purposes of prostitution. to go further would be to give away the plot; in itself, it’s a very good police procedural, but leon uses the story to bring out truly horrifying facts about the extent of this slave trade. Yet, she is so skillful a writer that it never sounds preachy, but unfolds from Brunetti’s investigation.

As is typical of Leon’s books, her characterizations are the best part, especially true in this book of the one-timers. Brunetti and his family--especially his 14 year old daughter Chiara in this book--continue to deepen and therefore continue to engage the reader’s interest in this very real (and very Italian) family. Leon’s love for Venice, always shining out through Brunetti, is obvious, no matter how grim the political or social picture is; the city enchants.

Another excellent member of the series. Highly recommended. ( )

My second Donna Leon, and I enjoyed it as much as the first. I liked the glimpses of Venetian life and manners--Venice is one of my favorite cities. I also like the family life of Commissario Guido Brunetti.