Donna Leon

The "victim" is a terrible person who is accepted because his work is brilliant. Somehow his wife truly loves him; and he seems to love her. But when she realizes how really terrible he is, she destroys him by destroying his ability to work: losing his hearing means he is no longer able to conduct, or even appreciate music. He understands what she did and tries to frame her for his death. What is most interesting in the story is how the police detective reacts to the solution of the show more whodunit. He is not a private detective, like Sherlock Holmes or Hercule Poirot or so many others, who can bend the law because he is not part of it; he works for the police. Nonetheless, he tells the conductor's wife to lie in order to protect her young daughter. In this case, the man can do no more harm to anyone; but if his earlier crimes had not been ignored or hidden or blamed on his victim, perhaps he would have been stopped before repeating his actions. Would he have gone to prison? Would he have stopped conducting? Would the world have lost his brilliance? Would his deeds have been just rumors in world of music: Keep your daughters away from the Maestro? How much can/should you separate the man from his work? Like a good Robert B. Parker book, the author leaves you with serious questions. show less

What an excellent book. This series keeps getting better and better. Donna Leon’s knowledge of her location and her familiarity with Italian politics shines through on every page. In this book, Commissario Brunetti finds himself butting heads, not only with his boss, the odious Vice-Questore, Guiseppe Patta, but with some very highly placed professionals like lawyers and accountants and political figures. It all starts with a truck accident on a busy highway. The aftermath of the accident show more reveals a seamier and darker underground than Brunetti has ever faced. One of the best things about Donna Leon’s writing is her skillful characterizations. The bad guys are usually very bad indeed, and Brunetti, his team and his family are so skillfully portrayed. I find myself rooting for them all. I love the imperturbable Brunetti with his common sense, his ability to see right into the heart of his adversaries, and his no-bullshit attitude. In this book he follows a long line of homicides, suicides and questionable accidents into the belly of the Venice underworld. A page-turner for sure, and one that leaves me waiting impatiently for the next installment. show less

I am tempted to think of this book as a particularly personal statement by the author. As a woman writing about a man, pretending to represent the mind of a very clever man, she calls on some issues important to her as a woman, even using Paola to make the point that a man can never really understand a woman's feelings about sex trafficking.
That segues into a very cleverly plotted murder, with even more cleverness in Brunetti's solving of the murder.
The book ends with a reflection on the show more ongoing conflict between good and evil. The most personal of her books I have read so far and also a very good story. show less

Donna Leon's Commissario Brunetti series just keeps getting better. This is #22, and the quality is every bit as good as earlier volumes. Set in glorious Venice, these stories have it all: beautiful scenery, a sense of the culture and daily lives of the inhabitants, well-developed and credible characters, amusing dialogue, philosophical introspection,varied plots, government corruption, and scrumptious food scenes.

In The Golden Egg, Guido Brunetti's wife Paola comes to him with a request show more that he look into the death of a deaf-mute young man who worked at her dry cleaners. No one seems to know anything about him. After asking preliminary questions, both Guido and Paola sense that something isn't right. There seems to be no legal record of this man's existence, and unless he can be proved to have existed, the body can't be buried.

This is a very subtle mystery. Leon intertwines intrigue with compassion, despair with anger, investigative skills with family connections, religion with politics, hatred with ignorance. It's not a fast paced police procedural. Rather it's a measured, steady unearthing of facts, motivations, and secrets. And always it's the mind and philosophy of Guido and Paola (a university professor) that flavors the stew. I thought I had it figured out about half-way through the book, only to find at the end that I was off base a bit.

If you haven't read any of these, this one is easy to start with. Each can stand alone, although they are especially enjoyable reading over the years to see how the characters and their relationships develop. show less