Books - Death at La Fenice

Death at La Fenice

By by Donna Leon

Rating: ★★★★½

This is my second Commissario Guido Brunetti mystery. I liked it better than the first one I read, Uniform Justice as it didn’t really have the same strange passive acceptance of corruption at the end. Perhaps Italians laugh that non-Italians like these books because they are romantic in their own way, but I admit, I loved Venice and the setting of these stories does add to how much I like them.

Brunetti is an interesting complex and human character. The whole setting is believable. A famous conductor doesn’t appear for the third act of an opera and is found poisoned in his dressing room. Who did it, an old flame, a young wife, a singer in the troupe or the producer? Interesting to the end, even if you know who, you don’t really know why.

If you like mysteries, I recommend reading these.