Donna Leon - ‘The Girl of His Dreams’

Review by Peter Lawrence on show 24th September 2009
Donna Leon is an American who has lived in, among other places, Switzerland, China, Iran and Saudi Arabia while working as a teacher. For many years now, however, she has made her home in Venice. Since 1992 she has produced a novel faithfully every year featuring her endearing detective Guido Brunetti, a Commissario of the Venetian police. I had never read any of Donna Leon’s books until I recently heard her interviewed on the radio about her latest offering ‘About Face’. I was fascinated by her and what she had to say about her love of Venice, although I can’t quite put my finger on what it was that made me want to read her books.

The book I am reviewing here was released in 2008 and so it the most recent to be published in paperback. It deals with some difficult themes, prejudice and hatred that cause us to make up our minds about the apparent perpetrator of the crime without any real need for convincing evidence, as well as a tendency to ignore evidence that seems to point an uncomfortable finger at the always impeccably honest middle classes. Donna Leon certainly doesn’t shy away from these difficult areas, and she handles them with great skill and a lightness of touch. One comes away with the distinct impression that she is merely reporting on a daily slice of normal Venetian life, although that cannot possibly be so, for if it were, that beautiful city would be one of the most criminally unsafe in the world.

Brunetti has featured in every single one of Donna Leon’s books to date, and in this his seventeenth appearance he shows no sign of running out of steam. The plot of this novel centres around some missing jewellery and cufflinks. Also central to the plot is a drowned girl found in one of Venice’s canals who, despite her youth, no one seems to miss. The trail seems to lead to a gypsy camp outside of the city populated by apparent thugs and ne’er do wells that everyone regards as the dregs of society. There is also another strand of the plot that centres around a shady priest who has been sent back from missionary work in Africa as a result of a scandal and who is now apparently extracting money with menaces from the most gullible members of his congregation, the Children of Jesus Christ.
Brunetti switches from the more mechanical methods of detection used in police procedural novels to the more forensic and intellectual approaches used in psychological thrillers. He is a master at working out what is going on in peoples’ minds, and receives significant help from his wife, a lecturer in English Literature at the university, and his two teenage children. One of the attractions of these books is the rich array of Italian food that is always on offer whilst the family, through normal dinner table conversation, inadvertently reveal clues that help to solve the crimes. It makes us feel as if we could all be great detectives if we wanted to be.

This is a great book. It has inspired me to read more of Donna Leon’s output. I’ve already read her first novel, ‘Death at la Fenice’ and have others lined up on the shelf. You’ll be hard pressed to find a better detective story. Only P D James does it better for me, but then she’s always been in a league of her own for me.


Peter Lawrence September 2009

Donna Leon - A Sea of Troubles

this review was written by Ro Bennett and read live on the bookshow 30th April 2014

This is the second book I have read by Donna Leon. I reviewed Uniform Justice on April 25th last year - doesn’t time fly! This is the tenth book in the series, Uniform Justice was the twelth and I have yet to read the first book. They are set in Venice and its surroundings and this book focuses on Pellestrina, a thin strip of island south-west of the city of Venice with  a tiny close-knit, closed-mouth fishing community. There is a very useful map at the beginning of the book. 

Product description

The murder of two clam fishermen off the island of Pellestrina, south of the Lido on the Venetian lagoon, draws Commissario Brunetti into the close-knit community of the island, bound together by a code of loyalty and a suspicion of outsiders worthy of the Mafia. When the boss' secretary Signorina Elettra volunteers to visit the island, where she has relatives, Brunetti finds himself torn between his duty to solve the murders, concerns for Elettra's safety, and his not entirely straightforward feelings for her ...

Having seen the characters develop over these two books I have decided to read the other books in chronological order. 

I enjoyed the book initially. It was a gentle relaxing read. The characters and their way of life were well described and the descriptions of Venice and Pellestrina were interesting and informative and I could visualise the setting. The reader learns about the problems facing the locals who fish - stocks in decline because of pollution and the illegal dredging of clams. Crippling quotas add to the difficulties, but many officials are corrupt and accept bribes. 

I enjoyed the author’s pokes at the corruption and incompetence of the  the police bureaucracy, the courts, the government the tax department- her focus on moral and political issues. Apparently because of this tendency her books aren’t published in Italy. 

However I didn’t enjoy the last couple of chapters or the ending which although there was an element of suspense, I found so implausible I felt myself getting impatient, so I skimmed them. Neverthe less it was a good read on the whole. 

Donna Leon has lived in Venice for many years and previously lived in Switzerland, Saudi Arabia, Iran and China, where she worked as a teacher. Her previous novels featuring Commissario Brunetti have all been highly acclaimed. She writes for pleasure and that comes across in the books

Ro Bennett

Donna Leon - Uniform Justice

This is the first book of this author I have read.  I picked it up because the backdrop to the murder was Venice.  Having been there last year and loved it I thought it would be good to read a story based there.  I am glad I went to Venice before reading this book as it taints the place a little.

Its a gentle murder mystery, a little along the lines of Miss Marple/Poirot.

The main character is Commissario Brunetti and his wife Paolo who is often his 'soundingboard'.  A young cadet is found hanged at Venice's elite military academy, where only title and wealth get the students there.  The death sorrows Brunetti as his own son is the same age.  It is made to look like suicide but Brunetti soon has his doubts but he meets stiff resistance and arrogance to any questioning from the murdered boys fellow students and teachers.

Neither Brunetti, his wife nor his indispensable admin/research assistant, Signorina Elettra, have much time for the military or the politics of Venice.  The wall of veiled secrets and silence he encounters in the investigation irks him even more as does the top-heavy Italian police bureaucracy, who want him to stop the investigation as he is upsetting the students and their prestigious families.

Its a strange meloncholy ending.

show Sept 24th '09

My guests this week were Peter Lawrence and Maggie Perkovic. Books reviewed were
How I live Now by Meg Rosoff - Possibly one of the most talked about books of the year, Meg Rosoff’s novel for young adults is the winner of the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize 2004. Heralded by some as the next best adult crossover novel since Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.
(a blast from the past): Parson Hardings Daughter by Caroline Harvey (aka Joanna Trollope)
Colm Tóibín’s beautiful Brooklyn (a worthy successor to Henry James)
The Girl of his Dreams by Donna Leon (If you like tough action crime thrillers, you won't like this).
We also discussed briefly the Man Booker nominations and looked at the top ten bestselling books

Donna Leon - Uniform Justice

 reviewed live on bookshow by Ro Bennett 25th April 2013

Thanks to Linda for recommending and lending me this book, I really enjoyed it. 

Commissario Brunetti returns for the twelfth novel in this best selling crime fiction series which I have sadly only just become aware of. It’s a gripping murder mystery which begins when a young cadet, Ernesto Moro, is found hanged at an elite military academy in Venice. 

There is a good deal of pressure to declare this as a straight forward suicide, however Brunetti has his doubts. The young man is the son of an ex-politician who has caused controversy as he has challenged corruption, so this gives one possible motive for murder as retaliation and revenge. 

Another strand could involve dubious practices in the exclusive Academy itself, but trying to pursue this proves tricky, as the military closes rank to protect its own and no one seems willing to talk to outsiders. There seems to be a conspiracy of silence which is suspicious in itself. 

Brunetti’s investigation is also constantly hampered by the machinations of wealth, arrogance and power; the deviance of politics, corruption and intrigue and is further complicated as the workings of the Italian legal system appear to clash with achieving justice. It’s all very frustrating. 

It's a really sad story, and the author doesn’t lose sight of the fact that murder and  violent death, is tragic, especially in the case of a young person.

I was interested also because the books are set in Venice which is a place which I have only visited briefly, once, but which captivated me. I would love to return. 

The author knows Venice well having lived there for thirty years. Previously she lived in Switzerland, Saudi Arabia, Iran and China, where she worked as a teacher. Whilst reading the book I could have done with a good map of Venice to follow Brunetti as he scurried from place to place.

I agree with other reviewers that it was probably the author’s personal views which were reflected in the discussions between Brunetti and his wife Paola about Italian politics, the military and the justice system. And these are not shown in a very good light in the book.  However I found it all very interesting and intriguing, but whether or not it is based on fact - who knows? The story is good and the characters believable and I would certainly read more of her books.