About Face (2009)

As good as usual for Donna Leon with a more satisfactory ending than usual.

These are like potato chips. I want more! ( )

http://tinyurl.com/d7v4qc9

Woah, I'm way behind in my Donna Leon reading. There are at least 2 more waiting for me after finishing this one, so I better get cracking.

This is maybe not one of her better ones, although the twist was not what I expected. Of course it has all the usual peevishness about the state of our (and not just Italian) society, the ludicrous pairing of the law and the environment, and the deplorable lack of intelligence in everyone except Leon's favored few. It does not lack in its other usual aspects, such as the glory of Italian everyday cooking and the enigma of Venice itself. Oh! And we get a female Commissario finally. That took Leon, the ultra-feminist, a damn long time to come up with.

It still surprises me that Leon remains a joy to read. It has to be extraordinarily difficult to pull off an intriguing mystery setting over the course of 18 novels, and I'd say she does a better job than others who've managed to hang on that long. Again, though, maybe not her best: I would say that was "Through a Glass, Darkly." But if you've never tried her Guido Brunetti mystery series do yourself a favor and start at the beginning, and then book your next trip to Venice because you'll be dying to visit after the first one. ( )

Another fine crime novel from Ms Leon. Well written with detail about Venice, literary references and description of the family life of Commissario Brunetti to leaven the sordidness of the crime story. ( )

This is the 18th entry in Donna Leon's vivid mystery series featuring Guido Brunetti. The descriptions of Venice, the endearing cast of regulars, and the behind-the-scenes glimpses of the socio-political structure of contemporary Italy should make you a lifelong fan of the series.

Once again there are two themes interplaying. For the first time Leon picks up on the Italian Mafia story we see all the time in the international news: all that garbage piling up in Naples.

To most of us outside Italy the crisis makes no sense. As her detective Guido Brunetti investigates, Leon explains very well what is happening. We can only sympathize with a modern industrial state that sometimes seems to be in freefall, where respect for the law among the powerful is apparently non-existent.

This character-driven series depends on dry wit and subtlety in Brunetti's rich family life and his relationships with the well known but never entirely predictable cast of regulars. Much of the book is a subtle commentary on various ideals of beauty, old and new. Leon cleverly works in Brunetti's mother- and father-in-law to explicate beauty, and solve one of the stranger mysteries about the woman with the ruined face.

The plot threads weave together neatly, rendering credulity only slightly frayed. I can’t put my finger on what is different though – it just wasn’t the page turner some of the others in the series are. ( )