A series of detective novels of varying merit by a French/American academic living in the city.

Titles in order, with date read.

• Death at La Fenice (07.99)
• Death in a Strange Country (09.99)
• The Anonymous Venetian (10.99)
• A Venetian Reckoning (10.99)
• Acqua Alta (11.99)
• The Death of Faith (11.99)
• A Noble Radiance (01.01)
• Fatal Remedies (10.01)
• Friends in High Places (11.03)
• A Sea of Troubles (11.03)
• Wilful Behaviour (11.03)
• Uniform Justice (02.04)
• Doctored Evidence (07.05)
• Blood from a Stone (10.05)
• Through a Glass, Darkly (06.11)
• Suffer the Little Children (12.11)
• The Girl of His Dreams (08.10)
• About Face (08.10)
• A Question of Belief (09.11)
• Drawing Conclusions (06.12)
• Beastly Things (09.13) *
• The Golden Egg (03.15) *
• By Its Cover (03.15)

* The book “The Jewels of Paradise”, listed between these two titles in Leon’s books, is not a Brunetti novel.

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.

In the fourteenth book, Blood from a Stone there is almost no joy, 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. Number 15 Through a Glass, Darkly is very light on story and atmosphere and 16, Suffer the Little Children is rather rambling and unfocussed with an uncharacteristically abrupt and hurried ending.

Number 17 The Girl of His Dreams, although still not up to the standard of the earliest stories is more satisfying than the previous few. About Face is a good detective mystery, although the key story element is a bit contrived. The 19th book, A Question of Belief continues the improvement of the most recent stories.

Book 20, Drawing Conclusions, is a bit different. It’s not really a crime story or whodunnit and it’s not even clear whether a crime has been committed, at least as far as the ‘victim’ is concerned. Instead Leon allows Brunetti to follow his instinct that there’s something not quite right with the ‘natural causes’ explanation of a sudden death and other murky happenings are exposed in typical Leon/Brunetti style. The pace drags a little at times, but overall Leon’s experiment (if that’s what it is) works quite well.

In book 21, Beastly Things there’s definitely a crime – more than one in fact. Brunetti slowly unravels the relationhips and shuffles the pieces of a jigsaw until they all fit. Like most of the novels number 22, The Golden Egg, is based on one particular issue. The story is rather lightweight, and Leon seems as much or more interested in the relationships between her enduring characters than with the wrong-doing Brunetti investigates. By Its Cover (no.23) returns to a stronger story with stronger characters, and I wonder if this is because Leon is more familiar with the world of libraries and old books with which it deals.

If you’re new to Donna Leon, take my advice and read the books in order.