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Jump to navigationJump to searchDeath at La Fenice by Donna Leon (view source)
Revision as of 13:00, 11 June 2017
, 13:00, 11 June 2017no edit summary
But as police procedurals - and first books in series in particular - go, this is a very accomplished read. There isn't the full complement of characters at the Questura as yet: Patta is there but there's no Ispettore Vianello, Lieutenant Scarpa or Signorina Elletra and apart from Patta the other staff at the Questura are two dimensional: it's Brunetti and the city of Venice who carry this story. Even Brunetti's wife Paola hasn't yet grown into her full glory.
I'll confess to having read the book (or rather, listened to an audio download, but more of that later) more for completeness than because I expected a great deal from it (in much the same way that I read Ian Rankin's [[Knots and And Crosses by Ian Rankin|Knots and Crosses]]), but I was more than pleasantly surprised. There's a good twisty plot and I didn't get anywhere near guessing the denouement, despite knowing that one of the suspects hadn't done the dirty deed. It was a particularly satisfying ending too.
I listened to an audio download (which I bought myself) narrated by Richard Morrant. He has a good range of male voices but I found some of the female voices irritating beyond belief, particularly the 'female in distress' ones. I think this is the only Brunetti which he's narrated and he doesn't come anywhere near the standard of my favourite, David Rintoul or even David Colacci.
