An excellent series of detective novels by a French/American academic living in the city.
Titles (in order, with date read)
This series deserves a longer review, which I might get round to writing sometime. Meanwhile, enough to say that the early stories are truly excellent, with their strong contrasts between the outward appearances of la Serenissima and the city's murky corrupt undercurrents. Sadly, by the time Leon reaches the thirteenth in the series (Doctored Evidence, published in 2004) she seems to have run out of the passion that inspires the earlier books. While Brunetti and his family are still drawn with warmth and affectionate humour, the main story has become rather formulaic and Leon's passion for her adopted city and her anger at the embedded failings of the society around her seem to have ebbed away. Fans (and I include myself) will still enjoy reading the book, and will look forward to the next one, but I wonder how much longer Leon will feel it worth going on with the series.
And now the fourteenth book, Blood from a Stone. There is almost no joy here, just a resigned acceptance that there is nothing to be done to combat the corruption and wrong-doing Leon sees as endemic in Italian society. Detective Brunetti's role is to uncover the truth, but any thought of justice is hopeless. The plot itself suffers from inconsistencies, leaving one forced to wonder if Leon is writing just to air her political views - however sympathetic one might be towards them - rather than to produce a well-crafted detective novel.
If you're new to Donna Leon, take my advice and read them in order.
Design, text and graphics Copyright © 1998 - 2005 Tony Turton