The Anonymous Venetian

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

Eigentlich wollte Brunetti ja mit seiner Familie in die Berge fahren, statt den brütendheißen August in Venedig zu verbringen. Doch dann wird beim Schlachthof vor Mestre die Leiche eines Mannes in Frauenkleidern gefunden. Ein Transvestit? Wird Streitigkeiten mit seinen Freiern gehabt haben – so die allgemeine Meinung, auch bei Teilen der Polizei. Brunetti, so rechtschaffen, wie man es in Italien eben noch sein kann, schaut genauer hin. Stammt der Tote überhaupt wirklich aus der Transvestiten- und Prostituiertenszene? Der Commissario lernt bei seinen Ermittlungen in einem Milieu, das auch den meisten Lesern weniger bekannt sein dürfte und darum nur umso spannender ist, weniger schnell zu urteilen, als die ach so ehrenwerten show more Normalbürger es tun. Zusehends verdächtig wird Brunetti dabei eine Einrichtung, die sich vorgeblich äußerst verdienstvolle Ziele auf ihr Banner geschrieben hat, die sogenannte ›Lega della Moralità‹, über deren wirkliches Treiben jedoch niemand Genaueres weiß. show less

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

Commissario Guido Brunetti's mysteries third installment exposes several imperfections in Brunetti's nature -- some charming, some perplexing, all fascinating.

A man's body wearing a dress and new high-heeled shoes, beaten beyond recognition, is found in an area frequented by prostitutes. What initially is thought to be a transvestite's violent death, slowly evolves into a tale of intrigue involving lawyers, fraud, money laundering and transvestitism.

Guido notices that the shaving of the body doesn't appear to be expertly done which leads him to question if the victim was truly a transvestite. His own sensitivities make the Commisario question his prejudices as his investigation treads through the world of the demimonde. At the same time show more as Guido is struggling with his own bigotries he has to deal with his private satisfaction as his superior, Vice-Questore Patta, copes with the departure of his wife in the arms of a well-known pornographer.

Paola and the kids go off to vacation without Guido which necessitates the need for additional characters to interact with Guido so we are introduced to Signorina Elettra Zorzi, a new secretary/assistant. Supposedly the secretary to Patta, her abilities for computer hacking as well as contacts in the "outside" world bode a great future for this character.

The social observations at the end where the victim's widow states that no matter that it was proven that her husband was not a transvestite, he will always be remembered for being found dead in dress, makes the reader stop to think of what else Brunetti's future will comment on in society.

Again, a winner with Commisario Guido Brunetti. show less

3rd in the Commisario Brunetti series set in Venice.

In a field in Mestre, a small city just to the west of Venice on the mainland, in a field used by the most desperate type of prostitutes, a worker in an abbatoir discovers the body of a middle-aged man dressed in a cheap red dress and red shoes. His face has been smashed in, making him virtually unidentifiable.

Because it’s August, and Mestre’s Questura is understaffed due to holidays and other misfortunes, Patta decides to “lend” Brunetti to the Mestre force to investigate the crime. Not that there’s much doubt in anyone’s mind what happened--something “gone wrong” in a transaction by the most despised of prostitutes, transvestites. Brunetti, who was supposed to go on show more the family’s annual vacation in the mountains, instead sees Paola, Chiara, and Raffi off at the train station, and returns to a hot, humid Venice--and Mestre--for this distasteful investigation. Before too long, Brunetti is less than convinced of the apparent motive for the murder; the investigation takes him further into the world of transvestite prostitution and those of the moneyed class in Venice who use their services.

In most of her books, Leon uses some social issue as a background for her plots, illuminating the less than pleasant aspects of Italian life--in this case, transvestites and the attitudes felt by most Italians towards them, attitudes that in many cases are utterly hypocritical. She does a good job of this without ever becoming preachy, letting the characters speak for themselves and showcase the situation. While I don’t think that Leon does as good a job on the same subject as Magdalen Nabb in her Marshal Guarnaccia series (The Marshall’s Own Case), it’s still a glimpse into that world.

Because Paola and the teenagers are off on vacation, this book does not have their strong contributions to the series, but that is more than made up for by the introduction of one of Leon’s great characters, the ineffable Signorina Elettra Zorzi. Nominally secretary to Patta, the pompous Vice Questore, Elettra in her debut appearance gives ample notice of the serene, sophisticated, highly talented computer hijacker role which she will expand in future books. The book is worth reading if just for the relish of her appearance. Patta plays an unusually large role in this book in a surprising way. We’re getting used to some of the more minor ones now, such as Sgt. Vianelli and his always off-stage wife Nadia who has found a second career as amateur investigator; all the minor characters lend strength to the series.

All in all, an excellent story, with the usual good plotting, fine writing, and strong characters. Highly recommended. show less