Death at La Fenice

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What a ripping first mystery, as beguiling and secretly sinister as Venice herself. Sparkling and irresistible.” –Rita Mae Brown The fragility of Venice has always been part of its allure. Here is a city built atop wooden posts driven into the muddy floor of a lagoon. It has been slowly sinking since records have been kept. But scientists say climate change is accelerating the pace at which the water is rising: the mean level in the lagoon is 30 centimetres above the level recorded in 1897, and there are increasing incidences of acqua alta, or "high water", when a mix of tides and winds causes flooding of shops and houses. Twelve years ago, construction began of a massive flood protection barrier – a system of hollow gates designed to swing up on hinges and create a temporary sea wall when needed. Venezianisches Finale. Commissario Brunettis erster Fall. Roman. Aus dem Amerikanischen von Monika Elwenspoek. Originaltitel: Death at La Fenice. - (Diogenes Taschenbuch, detebe 22780). Deftly plotted and smoothly written in the Ngaio Marsh cultural mode, but recommended even for readers who, like Brett Lynch, don't care for Verdi. If you have ever been to Venice or if you have ever read about that city and wanted to go, then this is the series that will make you want to go or go again. Leon has a flair for the atmospheric in her descriptions of the life and surroundings of her adopted city. You savor the Baroque architecture, enjoy the aromas of the Venetian cooking, and relish the sounds of Dante’s language. And there are two books that have been published that will help you appreciate Leon’s love of Venice even more: a walking tour book based on the Brunette novels and a cookbook based on the meals conjured up by Guido’s wife Paola. As consuming as her characters and plot are in these novels, Leon is also after bigger game than just writing about murder mysteries or producing a travelogue of Venice. She takes an opportunity to condemn those Italian political and social institutions that are sacred cows: the government, the media, the church, the cognoscenti, and even the police, to name a few. She steps on many toes with her withering criticisms, which is why her books are not published in Italian. Guido is her courageous conscience as he uses whatever powers he possesses to go up against the powers that be, sometimes ridiculing them but mostly incarcerating them, and to recognize when the moral dilemma is beyond his ability or would be a Pyrrhic victory (losing all your forces to win).

During intermission at the famed La Fenice Opera House in Venice, Italy, a notoriously difficult and widely disliked German conductor is poisoned and suspects abound. Commissario Brunetti, a native Venetian, seeks to unravel the mystery behind the high-profile murder.” Rustin, Susanna. “Donna Leon: Why I became an Eco-Detective writer.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 15 Apr. 2017. The third in Leon's richly evocative mysteries set in Venice and starring police Commissario Guido Brunetti reveals several flaws in Brunetti's character--some endearing, some disquieting, all Continue reading » Murderers aren't the problem in Venice. Tourists are. Millions of them arrive each year, surging in eager waves into Piazza San Marco, swarming through the Doge's Palace, squeezing onto the water-buses, known as vaporetti, that ply the Grand Canal.

In this stunning novel, the 14th to feature the dogged, intuitive Venetian police detective Guido Brunetti (after 2004's Doctored Evidence Leon's novels sell well in Switzerland, but she can go about her business undisturbed there. "Everyone is invisible in Switzerland," she has said. In Venice, she is regularly bailed up by people in the grip of Brunettimania, many of them from German-speaking countries ("The centre of the cult is Austria," she says). Venetians themselves leave her alone because, at her insistence, the books aren't published in Italian. Unbekannter Einband. Condition: Gut. schief gelesen, Artikel stammt aus Nichtraucherhaushalt! EQ1042 Sprache: Deutsch Gewicht in Gramm: 500. Donna Leon has given fans of subtle, clever and literate mysteries something to cheer about. . . . A wonderful read.' Tony Hillerman Read more Look Inside Details Unbekannter Einband. Condition: Akzeptabel. schief gelesen, Artikel stammt aus Nichtraucherhaushalt! BX127 Sprache: Deutsch.

Gebundene Ausgabe. Condition: Akzeptabel. insgesamt deutliche Gebrauchsspuren, schief gelesen, Artikel stammt aus Nichtraucherhaushalt! EN1432 Sprache: Deutsch Gewicht in Gramm: 549. Unbekannter Einband. Condition: Gut. Ausgabe von 1995, außen mit Gebrauchsspuren, schief gelesen, Artikel stammt aus Nichtraucherhaushalt! AA5109 Sprache: Deutsch Gewicht in Gramm: 500.We don't actually witness many killings in Leon's books. By the time Brunetti arrives, the yellow tape has gone up around the crime scene. "I'm as one with Aristotle on this," Leon has said. "Do the bloody deed off-stage and then have the messenger come in and describe it." In Leon's 16th Commissario Guido Brunetti mystery, at once astringent yet lyrical, two rival police forces—Brunetti and his Venetian colleagues and the carabinieri—are both Continue reading » He glanced up into the horseshoe of the still darkened hall, tried to smile, failed, and abandoned the attempt. “Excuse, ladies and, gentlemen, the difficulty. The opera will now continue.”