by: Donna Leon
Goodreads description:
There is little violent crime in Venice, a serenely beautiful floating city of mystery and magic, history and decay. But the evil that does occasionally rear its head is the jurisdiction of Guido Brunetti, the suave, urbane vice-commissario of police and a genius at detection. Now all of his admirable abilities must come into play in the deadly affair of Maestro Helmut Wellauer, a world-renowned conductor who died painfully from cyanide poisoning during an intermission at La Fenice.
But as the investigation unfolds, a chilling picture slowly begins to take shape–a detailed portrait of revenge painted with vivid strokes of hatred and shocking depravity. And the dilemma for Guido Brunetti will not be finding a murder suspect, but rather narrowing the choices down to one. . . .
Helen says: š¤š¤š¤ 1/4 (I probably would have like it more if I had actually read it and not listened on Audible)
I am not really a fan of detective mysteries (with exception of Nelson DeMille and his John Corey series) so my opinion should be taken with a grain of salt. I wasn’t dying to read this, so I listened on Audible. I think I would have gotten a lot more out of it by reading instead. You really had to pay attention and there were a lot of characters with similar sounding Italian names. Here are some things I liked: descriptions of Venice, the descriptions of the delicious Italian food and the fact that it was a quick read. Here are some things that I questioned: are Italian detectives just like the detectives on “Law and Order” in America? It seemed kind of formulaic. Also, when did this book take place? I couldn’t tell by the copyright date. There are mentions of land lines and CD collections- I am guessing the mid-1990’s. In a nutshell, I liked it, but I don’t want to continue reading the series.
Holly says:š¤š¤š¤1/2
A very sweet (if murder mysteries can be called “sweet) murder mystery centering on the death of a not-so-lovable maestro. Very Agatha Christie-like. Inspector Brunelli and his wife, Paola, are delightful. This is the first in a series of Inspector Brunelli books. If you are hooked by this one, you may want to read them all. I just prefer a little more excitement. I enjoyed the Venetian setting. I also enjoyed the plot twists and really liked some of the characters, this is just not one of my favorite types of books. If you enjoy this genre, I think you will like this one.
Helen and Holly Hit the Books 