The Anonymous Venetian

Number 3 in the Commissario Brunnetti series. I really like Brunnetti and his wonderful wife Paola. To add to the enjoyment is Brunnetti’s odious boss, Giuseppe Patta, who adds a bit of humour to these books. The mysteries are always quite complex, and in this one Brunnetti is on the tail of a particularly ruthless killer when a mutilated body of a male is found. The man is dressed in women’s clothes and shoes. The trail leads to the underground world of Venice’s underworld of transvestites and prostitution. And it becomes apparent early in the investigation that some important Veniation citizens who do not want their secrets revealed. The book moved along quite quickly and the tension gradually increased. I was disappointed with show more the ending though as nothing seemed to be resolved—hence the three stars instead of the four I was planning to award. show less

This is the third in the Commissario Guido Brunetti mystery series. The series just keeps getting better. In this book, the mystery is very well plotted, with plenty of twists and turns. Brunetti continues to be one of my favorite characters in mystery fiction - an incredibly smart detective with a gentle way of interacting with others. I am especially fascinated by his relationship with his wife Paola. Leon spoils her readers with beautifully written prose and weaves Venice into the novel like another character. Plot, character, writing, setting - Leon's books could serve as a how to guide for excellent mystery writing.

In Dressed for Death, third in Donna Leon's Brunetti series, Commissario Guido Brunetti investigates the murder of a man, found in a field, dressed in a red dress with red stiletto heels. The man had been beaten, his face crushed beyond recognition. At first, everyone - including Brunetti - assumes that the man was probably a transvestite prostitute, and the killing because something has gone wrong in an fairly commonplace - but distasteful - transaction. However, as Brunetti digs deeper, he discovers connections with some well-placed people in Venice society, people trying to cover up both their potentially scandalous activities and the ever-present corruption that seems to thread its way through Italian society.

Once again, Leon has show more woven a tale that combines a good mystery with a bit of social commentary. Here the commentary is about prejudices against transvestites and homosexuals. Brunetti finds himself confronting his own biases toward both groups. In a subplot, Vice-Questore Patta (Brunetti's self-absorbed and politically inclined boss), finds that his wife has run away with Italy's master of porn. Throughout the book, Leon is gently prodding her readers to think about various issues of sex, scandal and gossip.

Another good installment in the Brunetti series. show less

Back to reading the early books from the series. The story sounded familiar but I was not sure if I had read it before or had seen an episode based on it - I discovered Brunetti via the German series, not via the books. As it turns out, I've read the book in 2012 so there were flashes of "oh, I know where this is going" but not enough to spoil the pleasure of the novel.

It is a hot summer, everyone is on vacation so when a body is found next to a slaughter house in Mestre, Brunetti is sent to investigate. Meanwhile in the Questura in Venice, Patta is in a bad mood - not only his wife left him but she left him for a man who everyone knows - and not in a good way. And while Patta is trying to find a way to discredit the lover, Brunetti's show more vacation need to be delayed and/or cancelled - a murder takes priority.

Except that almost noone wants to really work the case - the man was dresses as a woman so everyone is ready to just call it an unfortunate incident and move on - transvestites are making Italian men uncomfortable, transvestite whores make things even worse. Even Guido has some weird thoughts, voiced only at home to Paula - which as usual serves to make him reexamine his thoughts.

The deeper Brunetti digs, the more it starts looking like the case is not as straight-forward as it appeared to be - things do not add up. And this is where I have no idea how much of what was getting obvious comes from how Leon wrote the story and how much was my memory serving me snippets from 9 years ago. A murder getting tied to corruption is nothing new in this series so I was not surprised that this is where the story went - if anything, this is a lot more likely in Leon's Venice than anything else.

And this is the novel where Signorina Elettra Zorzi makes her first appearance. The later novels cannot exist without her so her being the new character was a bit unusual. She is a lot more muted than in later novels but she still shows her ability to find information.

The end got me - I definitely did not remember the very end of the novel. I did not expect it - the novel looked finished and yet, it fits perfectly.

Another good entry in the series - and I am happy I revisited it. show less

The anonymous Venetian starts off with another unidentified corpse - a man found beaten to death, dressed in women's clothes in an area of Mestre notoriously used by prostitutes. On that most traditional of all occasions for crime, the eve of the detective's planned holiday. But is it all that it seems? Well, no, obviously. But surely Brunetti's investigation isn't going to open up another tangled web of corruption in high places so soon after the last one? And surely even Brunetti wouldn't be so daft as to accept an invitation to a late-night rendezvous with an informant after the ones in the last two books ended so disastrously...?

Leon's intelligent and lively style and the many unexpected touches of local detail she finds room for show more allow this book to be entertaining despite a rather predictable and pedestrian plot, but I'd rather hoped and expected that the series would be developing a bit more strongly by the time it got to the third book. If it carries on like this, I'm not sure that I shall. show less

Venice is never a mere background for Donna Leon's engaging mysteries: the city is as much a character in the unfolding plot as the police and the villains. And Venice, it seems, is never short of villains. There is corruption at the heart of the case that confronts the amiable Commissario Brunetti but the story begins with a body. Not a body that is what it at first appears, but one that leads into the louche world of transvestite prostitution.

Leon's books are the more believable for the fact that police success stems not from brilliant deduction but from persistence and a certain amount of luck. Brunetti, one feels, deserves what good fortune there is as reward for having to give up a holiday escape from the midsummer heat; instead, show more he stays behind while his wife and children take to the mountains. The somewhat tense family phone conversations, the meals the Commissario consoles himself with are all gontrasts to the highs and lows of the investigation.
I've read a few of these books and enjoyed them. The reader on this audiobook did agood job and delivered an experience in line with the written word. show less

As ever, Donna Leon provides a gripping read, with all the extra benefits of coming to know Commissario Brunetti and his family a little better. This turns out to be an early book in the series, and I was afraid that therfore the characters would not be so well developed. Not so. We meet Signorina Elettra for the first time, and Paola, Brunetti's wife, already plays her characterful part in the story - though not the plot. I love these books, and always have to read them as soon as I lay my hands on one.