OCTOBER: Donna Leon

Donna Leon is the American author of a series of crime novels set in Venice and featuring the fictional hero Commissario Guido Brunetti. She has lived in Venice for over 25 years.

The Girl of his Dreams:  (17th in series)
 Kate: Loved his descriptions of Venice and the everyday life with his family. The story is about the murder of a gypsy girl and highlights the Venetians dislike of tourists.

Ann: She write in a very relaxed style which is still very powerful.

Judy: There is a lot of assumed knowledge in the novel. She'd call it "soft crime"...no lengthy descriptions of violence. Always a sad element to the story line.
She was a little disheartened with the conclusion: sometimes justice doesn't prevail over money and power.

Aqua Alta: (5th in series)
Kris: Really enjoyed the book, found it difficult to put down. It reminded her of Ruth Cracknell's book "Journey from Venice". There is a little bit of violence when the archaeologist is savagely beaten but balanced by the glimpses into his family life with his wife and 2 daughters.

Blood from a Stone: (14th in series)
Judy J: Set in Christmas time in Venice, with wonderful descriptions of the city, the lights  and particularly the cold. Brunetti is investigating the murder of an illegal immigrant from Senegal. He continues his investigation (at a fairly leisurely pace) even though his boss wants him off the case. Great descriptions of his favourite coffee places, lunch at home with his wife and his attempts at Christmas shopping! Rather unsatisfactory ending though as everything is 'wrapped up' very quickly and quite improbably.

Jo: Enjoyed the different setting from most books and thought she would read more. She felt for the illegal immigrants and the difficulties they had to live under.

Through a Glass, Darkly: (15th in series)
Claurene: In each of Donna Leon's books she reveals another aspect of the seamy underside of society. In this book it is the illegal disposal of toxic waste...a big problem. This was more interesting than the crime part of the story.

 Connie: She enjoyed the writing about the glass factories in Murano, found his family interesting, and the roles of the police, particularly Elettra, made for good reading.
The map was particularly helpful and she had walked along the same streets and been to the same places and done some of the same things.She thought it was nice to read about nice people and happy families, a nice change to reading so much violence.

Wendy: Really enjoyed reading it and particularly liked the characters after she got used to reading the names. She thought it had a very neat ending, which didn't occur to the very last paragraph. She thought she would read her again.

Questions of Belief:  (19th in series)
Jane: In this book Venice is suffering from a heatwave, which creates many opportunities for the characters to visit various bars. But as Brunetti is trying to get away from the city a public figure is killed, evidence of court cases being held up is uncovered and Vianello's aunt becomes mixed up with a charlatan horoscope guru. The story lines are quite involved and do become confusing. It would have helped to have had a family tree!

Beastly Things: (21st in series)
Rosemary: Her most recent publication. A male body is found in the canal suffering from Madelung deformity (parts of the body become thicker than normal...chest & lungs). There is a separate investigation of corruption in the slaughterhouse. There are some vivid description of the killing of the animals, but Rosemary still enjoyed it.

About Face: (18th in the series)
Pamela: She had no trouble reading it, but was annoyed by the book. She felt tricked and manipulated because the story was implausible and dishonest. The plot starts off promisingly when a woman undergoes a 'bad' face lift and her husband has some involvement in an illegal waste management system. But it doesn't go any further.
The author kept suggesting plot lines that weren't followed through.

Jules: She enjoyed the book and thought it all came together rather well. Along the way you learnt quite a lot about his wife's parents and her in-laws.

Doctored Evidence: (13th in the series)
Joan: In the genre of  crime fiction, she is a good writer. All the books seem to have the same characters and themes. Similarities in all books....coffee, food, vaporetto, all add to the scene she paints and the feel of Venice.
Following the finding of of an elderly female body, conflict develops between the different levels of the police.When her carer, an illegal immigrant fled to Rumania, the local police think they have solved the crime. But Brunetti comes in and sorts it all out.
She enjoyed it but feels she wont have to read any more because they all are very similar....

Suffer the Little Children:   (16th in the series)
Maree: Unfortunately wasn't able to get the book finished. She found it difficult to 'get into' the book as there was a lot of implied knowledge about the background of the characters. She needed a map to maintain her interest in the book.
The story involved a pediatrician, illegal adoption and the Carabinieri taking the children away.

Uniform Justice: (12th in the series)
Dianne: A boy is found hanging in a posh military academy. Is it murder or suicide? There is no justice in the ending.
Dianne became very frustrated in the way Brunetti investigates. He wont use the internet, forgets his phone, only seems to work about 4 hours a day. She also thought the writing was very verbose.

Death at La Fenice: (1st in the series)
Jules: She has now read 3 of her books. Although this is the author's first book, they can be read in any order.
This book is set in the opera theatre, and gives an indication as to why she began writing the series. The maps in the front are very useful.

Drawing Conclusions: ( 20th in the series)  
Margaret: The writing is good and the stories always had a moral aspect to them which is unusual in most crime novels. But sometimes there seems to be problems with her plots...Margaret felt they were a bit soft.


Other recommendations:
Pamela:
The Red Chamber by Pauline A Chen...problems and customs within a Chinese family
The Rose Grower by Michelle de Krester

Joan:
The Favoured Daughter by Favzia Koofi ...she is the first woman speaker in the Parliament and she writes to her two daughters about her life.

Jo:
Heaven Is For Real .....a beautiful story about a little boy, who, while undergoing a procedure, goes to heaven for 3 minutes, before he comes back. He writes, among other things, about what angels are like and people he has met in heaven.