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A nun has left her convent after a series of suspicious deaths: "Leon's novels are always a pleasure." —The Washington PostIn Venice, Italy, Commissario Guido Brunetti comes to the aid of a young Catholic sister, who has left her convent after five of her nursing home patients died unexpectedly. In the course of his inquiries, Brunetti encounters an unusual cast of characters, but discovers nothing that seems criminal. The police detective must determine whether the nun is simply show more creating a smoke screen to justify abandoning her vocation—or if she has stumbled onto something very real and very sinister that places her own life in imminent danger.
"Leon's books shimmer in the grace of their setting and are warmed by the charm of their characters." —The New York Times Book Review
Also published under the title The Death of Faith. show less
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It all starts with a nun - or an ex-nun to be more precise. She is one of the nuns who had taken care of Brunetti's mother for awhile so when she comes with a tale of possible murder and elderly abuse, Brunetti decides to investigate, even if all he has is a woman's word. It is a quiet book - while there is death (and murder in some cases), it is an exploration of the state of elderly care and the lives of the nuns who deal with that more than anything else. Brunetti comes out a bit more morally ambiguous than usual although it feels more like Leon being more comfortable using his sense of justice (vs the law) than before. It also makes the story feel more personal on some level - stories about idealized policemen never really work show more properly. show less
6th in the Commisario Brunetti series set in Venice, Italy.
Maria Testa--the former Suor Immaculata who Brunetti recognizes as one of the aides in the nursing home in which his Alzheimer’s-afflicted mother resides--appears in his office one morning, deeply disturbed by what she feels is an unusual number of deaths in another nursing home to which she has been recently assigned. She does not have any real proof--just the instinctive conviction that some of these people should not have died. Also, she is troubled by what may have been inappropriate bequests in their wills by these now-dead individuals to the nursing home or the order of nuns to which she formerly belonged.
Brunetti, not convinced, decides to look into the matter, by show more contacting and interviewing the heirs in as bland and unassuming manner as possible so as not to seem to be accusing either the heirs or the Catholic Church of wrongdoing. In the meantime, religion and the Church seems to have invaded his personal life as well, since Chiara, his 14 year old daughter whose academic record is otherwise perfect, has brought home a less than satisfactory grade in religious education. Her brother Raffaele tells the family that it is the priest, Padre Luciano, who is the problem and suggests that the priest may hove behaved inappropriately with some of the young girls in the parish.
With these two links to the Catholic Church, Brunetti begins his investigation of Maria Testa’s worries, while Paola fulminates against the clergy.
The Death of Faith is the most character-driven book in the series. The book starts out slowly with the interviews of the heirs and probably could have been shortened. But in doing so, we would have lost Leon’s exquisite ability to portray Venetians and Venetian society. Even though it takes nearly half the book to really swing into the plot, the descriptions of the heirs are gems of literary portraiture. Also, Brunetti’s mother-in-law, the Contessa Falier, makes a rare solo appearance and surprises everyone, including Brunetti, with the kind of woman she truly is. It is masterful writing on Leon’s part; while it might have been more proper in a novel about Venetian society than in a police procedural, all these characters studies do contribute to the plot and are utterly absorbing in what they tell us about Venice today.
After this deceptively slow start, the plot moves quickly and becomes more complex. There is a satisfying amount of action, and the denouements--both of them--are very well done. But this is Italy and in particular Venice, which means that they are Italian solutions and resolutions, not American or British ones, that “things” happen at an angle, not straightforwardly. As such, they may not be entirely satisfying but they are utterly Italian.
Highly recommended. show less
Maria Testa--the former Suor Immaculata who Brunetti recognizes as one of the aides in the nursing home in which his Alzheimer’s-afflicted mother resides--appears in his office one morning, deeply disturbed by what she feels is an unusual number of deaths in another nursing home to which she has been recently assigned. She does not have any real proof--just the instinctive conviction that some of these people should not have died. Also, she is troubled by what may have been inappropriate bequests in their wills by these now-dead individuals to the nursing home or the order of nuns to which she formerly belonged.
Brunetti, not convinced, decides to look into the matter, by show more contacting and interviewing the heirs in as bland and unassuming manner as possible so as not to seem to be accusing either the heirs or the Catholic Church of wrongdoing. In the meantime, religion and the Church seems to have invaded his personal life as well, since Chiara, his 14 year old daughter whose academic record is otherwise perfect, has brought home a less than satisfactory grade in religious education. Her brother Raffaele tells the family that it is the priest, Padre Luciano, who is the problem and suggests that the priest may hove behaved inappropriately with some of the young girls in the parish.
With these two links to the Catholic Church, Brunetti begins his investigation of Maria Testa’s worries, while Paola fulminates against the clergy.
The Death of Faith is the most character-driven book in the series. The book starts out slowly with the interviews of the heirs and probably could have been shortened. But in doing so, we would have lost Leon’s exquisite ability to portray Venetians and Venetian society. Even though it takes nearly half the book to really swing into the plot, the descriptions of the heirs are gems of literary portraiture. Also, Brunetti’s mother-in-law, the Contessa Falier, makes a rare solo appearance and surprises everyone, including Brunetti, with the kind of woman she truly is. It is masterful writing on Leon’s part; while it might have been more proper in a novel about Venetian society than in a police procedural, all these characters studies do contribute to the plot and are utterly absorbing in what they tell us about Venice today.
After this deceptively slow start, the plot moves quickly and becomes more complex. There is a satisfying amount of action, and the denouements--both of them--are very well done. But this is Italy and in particular Venice, which means that they are Italian solutions and resolutions, not American or British ones, that “things” happen at an angle, not straightforwardly. As such, they may not be entirely satisfying but they are utterly Italian.
Highly recommended. show less
It’s hard to find a wild statement about sex from St.Benedict, but the author did, and she sets the stage for a painful plot around not just sexual abuse in the Catholic Church but the abuse of power.
‘I never knew you had such strong feelings about religion,’ he said. ‘This has nothing to do with religion,’ she snapped out. ‘No?’ His surprise was real. ‘It has to do with power.’ Brunetti considered this for a moment. ‘Yes, I suppose it does.’
Even so, it left me with a bad taste in my mouth.
‘I never knew you had such strong feelings about religion,’ he said. ‘This has nothing to do with religion,’ she snapped out. ‘No?’ His surprise was real. ‘It has to do with power.’ Brunetti considered this for a moment. ‘Yes, I suppose it does.’
Even so, it left me with a bad taste in my mouth.
The Brunettis vs. the Church
Review of the Grove Press paperback edition (June 2015) of the original MacMillan hardcover (1997)
This 6th Commissario Brunetti investigation is a cat-and-mouse game where the Venice police inspector goes up against the secretive forces and bureaucracy of the Catholic Church and its secret society, the Opus Dei. The case starts when an ex-nun, who once was part of the order which cared for Brunetti's mother in a nursing home, comes to Brunetti with a list of what, to her, are suspicious nursing home deaths. Brunetti makes initial enquiries with relatives and members of the order and nothing seems untoward. But then the nun is severely injured in a hit and run incident and Brunetti senses there is more at show more play.
See photograph at https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BYmVlM2ZmNmMtYzllZC00NTI4LTg5MzQtZjgzOTE4...
Actors Suzanne von Borsody as Mother Oberin and Uwe Kockisch as Commissario Brunetti in a film still from the German television adaptation of "Quietly in Their Sleep" (2004) titled "Sanft entschlafen" (To Fall Asleep Gently). Image sourced from IMDb.
Meanwhile, on the home front, daughter Chiara's report card reveals a rebellious streak against religious instruction and Brunetti's wife Paola is called to action when it becomes apparent that the school's religion teacher is a priest with a shady past of possible child abuse. The two investigations lead up to a couple of my favorite passages in the book:
I've been trying to follow the series in order of its publication, but I've realized that it is actually mostly frozen in time, with Brunetti's children hardly aging, although the books have now spanned almost 30 years. Quietly in Their Sleep does hint that there may be future conflicts with Opus Dei in the later books, as not all of the villains are satisfactorily brought to justice. The lack of complete closure though is somewhat a characteristic of Leon's writing as if in parallel to the real world.
Trivia and Links
There is a really fascinating interview with author Donna Leon at ItalianMysteries.Com even if it was done 18 years ago. She discusses all sorts of background to the books and characters and also gives the reason that she won't allow the books to be translated into Italian (and it wasn't because she feared criticism by her neighbours in Venice).
Although it was the 6th book, Quietly in Their Sleep (aka The Death of Faith in the UK) was filmed as the 7th episode "Sanft entschlafen" (To Fall Asleep Gently) (2004) of the German language TV series (2000-2019) based on the Donna Leon / Commissario Brunetti books.
An English language summary of the German language Commissario Brunetti TV series is available at Fictional Cities (Spoilers Obviously, although often the films differ from the books). As explained in the above interview, the TV-series was a German production as the books took off in popularity the most in the German speaking countries of Europe as Leon's publishing agent was Swiss-German and knew that market the best. show less
Review of the Grove Press paperback edition (June 2015) of the original MacMillan hardcover (1997)
This 6th Commissario Brunetti investigation is a cat-and-mouse game where the Venice police inspector goes up against the secretive forces and bureaucracy of the Catholic Church and its secret society, the Opus Dei. The case starts when an ex-nun, who once was part of the order which cared for Brunetti's mother in a nursing home, comes to Brunetti with a list of what, to her, are suspicious nursing home deaths. Brunetti makes initial enquiries with relatives and members of the order and nothing seems untoward. But then the nun is severely injured in a hit and run incident and Brunetti senses there is more at show more play.
See photograph at https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BYmVlM2ZmNmMtYzllZC00NTI4LTg5MzQtZjgzOTE4...
Actors Suzanne von Borsody as Mother Oberin and Uwe Kockisch as Commissario Brunetti in a film still from the German television adaptation of "Quietly in Their Sleep" (2004) titled "Sanft entschlafen" (To Fall Asleep Gently). Image sourced from IMDb.
Meanwhile, on the home front, daughter Chiara's report card reveals a rebellious streak against religious instruction and Brunetti's wife Paola is called to action when it becomes apparent that the school's religion teacher is a priest with a shady past of possible child abuse. The two investigations lead up to a couple of my favorite passages in the book:
'I said I'm going to stop him, and that's what I'm going to do,' Paola repeated, enunciating every syllable, as if for the deaf.
'Good,' Brunetti said. 'I hope you do. I hope you can.'
To his vast surprise, Paola answered with a quotation from the Bible: ' "But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea." '
'Where'd that come from?' Burnetti asked.
'Matthew. Chapter 18, verse six ...'
'No,' Brunetti said, shaking his head from side to side. 'It's strange to hear you, of all people, quoting the Bible.'
'Even the Devil is said to have that capacity,' she answered, but smiling for the first time and, with that smile, brightening the room.
Brunetti had always tried to avoid naming the person he suspected of a crime, and he tried to do so this time, but she could read the answer in his silence.
She got to her feet. 'If you've got to be up all night, why don't you try to get some sleep now?'
' "A wife is her husband's richest treasure, a helpmeet, a steadying column. A vineyard with no hedge will be overrun; a man with no wife becomes a helpless wanderer," ' he quoted, happy to have, for once, beaten her at her best game.
She couldn't disguise her surprise, nor her delight. 'It is true, then?' she asked.
'What?'
'That the Devil really can quote Scripture.'
I've been trying to follow the series in order of its publication, but I've realized that it is actually mostly frozen in time, with Brunetti's children hardly aging, although the books have now spanned almost 30 years. Quietly in Their Sleep does hint that there may be future conflicts with Opus Dei in the later books, as not all of the villains are satisfactorily brought to justice. The lack of complete closure though is somewhat a characteristic of Leon's writing as if in parallel to the real world.
Trivia and Links
There is a really fascinating interview with author Donna Leon at ItalianMysteries.Com even if it was done 18 years ago. She discusses all sorts of background to the books and characters and also gives the reason that she won't allow the books to be translated into Italian (and it wasn't because she feared criticism by her neighbours in Venice).
Although it was the 6th book, Quietly in Their Sleep (aka The Death of Faith in the UK) was filmed as the 7th episode "Sanft entschlafen" (To Fall Asleep Gently) (2004) of the German language TV series (2000-2019) based on the Donna Leon / Commissario Brunetti books.
An English language summary of the German language Commissario Brunetti TV series is available at Fictional Cities (Spoilers Obviously, although often the films differ from the books). As explained in the above interview, the TV-series was a German production as the books took off in popularity the most in the German speaking countries of Europe as Leon's publishing agent was Swiss-German and knew that market the best. show less
Brunetti's kids, Raffi and Chiara are extremely vocal in this story about their lack of enthusiasm for religion classes and in particular for the priest who is teaching them. When Raffi finally confides to his father that the good padre has been at least verbally indiscrete with many of his female penitents, Brunetti's fatherly instincts almost overrule his legal ones. At the same time, he is trying to determine if there is any merit to a claim by one of the nuns (now an ex-nun) who worked at the nursing home where his demented mother is being cared for, that several of the patients may have been assisted to their heavenly reward earlier than nature intended. Leon does an excellent job of weaving innuendo with fact, of having Brunetti show more and Vianello tracking down the truth of her allegations.
Paola's mother, the Contessa Donatella Falier, provides us with some of the most amusing dialogue this series has produced, but it is ultimately good police work by Brunetti, Vianello and Sra Electra that gives Paola the ammunition she needs to "take care of things." The ending is worth every minute you spend with the book. show less
Paola's mother, the Contessa Donatella Falier, provides us with some of the most amusing dialogue this series has produced, but it is ultimately good police work by Brunetti, Vianello and Sra Electra that gives Paola the ammunition she needs to "take care of things." The ending is worth every minute you spend with the book. show less
Brunetti’s pivotal character this time is a nun in a order that takes care of elderly people but who sees things she is not supposed to see and decides to leave the order and the religious life. We don't spend much time in her company but she shines on the page. Donna Leon really doesn't like the Church and very especially doesn't like Opus Dei, who are portrayed here as a shadowy organisation who place a persistent child abuser to run things in Venice, who is also siphoning off funds from the old people's homes.
#6 in the Commissario Brunetti series. This is a complex mystery with wonderful insights into the regular characters. It is warm and funny and serious, just like the main characters are. It also takes aim at religion and some of the darker aspects of religion. I love this series for the characters, but I continue reading the books because of the mysteries. I also love the setting which is Venice described beautifully with all of its uniqueness. When a young woman comes to visit Brunetti with some deep suspicions about the nursing home that she worked at while she was a nun, Brunetti is struck by the innocence of the woman, and wonders whether or not her fears are real or imagined. As he and Sergeant Vianetti investigate, the case show more becomes veryreal and dangerous, and much darker than they ever imagined. I highly recommend this series to those that love well-written mysteries with a personal touch. show less
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Donna Leon
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Author Information
60+ Works 46,110 Members
Donna Leon was born on September 29, 1942 in Montclair, New Jersey. She taught English literature in England, Switzerland, Iran, China, Italy and Saudi Arabia. She is the author of a Commissario Guido Brunetti Mystery series. Friends in High Places, a novel from the series, won the Crime Writers Association Macallan Silver Dagger for Fiction in show more 2000. German Television has produced 16 Commissario Brunetti mysteries for broadcast. She was a crime reviewer for the Sunday Times. She has written the libretto for a comic opera and has set up her own opera company, Il Complesso Barocco. Her titles Jewels of Pardise, The Golden Egg, By Its Cover, Falling in Love and The Waters of Eternal Youth made The New York Times Bestseller List. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Some Editions
Series
Belongs to Publisher Series
detebe (23139)
Work Relationships
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- The Death of Faith
- Original title
- Quietly in Their Sleep
- Alternate titles
- Quietly in Their Sleep
- Original publication date
- 1997
- People/Characters
- Commissario Guido Brunetti; Maria Testa
- Important places
- Venice, Veneto, Italy
- Related movies*
- Sanft entschlafen (2004)
- Epigraph
È sempre bene
Il sospettare un poco, in questo mondo.
It's always better, in this world,
To be a little suspicious.
--Così fan tutte, MOZART- Dedication*
- Voor Donald McCall
- First words
- Brunetti sat at his desk and stared at his feet.
- Quotations*
- È sempre bene
Il sospettare un poco, in questo mondo.
Het is altijd beter, in deze wereld,
om een beetje achterdochtig te zijn.
Così fan tutte
w.a. mozart - Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)He put them [his hands] in the pockets of his jacket and, bidding farewell to the gulls, went back up the 'calle' and towards home.
- Publisher's editor*
- Oorspronkelijke uitgever Heinemann
- Original language*
- Engels
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
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