Acqua Alta – Donna Leon - pub. Pan books
Brunetti heard a siren shriek out and shatter the tranquillity of the night … It was the siren at San Marco, calling out to the sleeping city that the waters were rising: acqua alta had begun.
When I think of Venice it is impossible to think of it any other way but as in Summer: sunlit, bright and colourful with tourists and gondolas – alternatively I picture it during the famous Carnival with gaily dressed masked figures. ‘Acqua Alta’ shows a very different and much less attractive view of the watery city, this time set in the winter when, for a short period, the weather is damp and dreary and the waters of the lagoon and canals intrude into the lives of its citizens, flooding their piazzas, streets and homes. No one with any sense ventures out without their rubber boots and the city authorities erect raised walkways in some of the major thoroughfares. (I first read about this flooding of the city in ‘Miss Garnett’s Angel’, by Salley Vickers - a book I would also recommend.)
In the middle of the cold weather and rising waters Commissario Guido Brunetti of the Venice Questura (Police) is once again drawn into solving a crime, this time involving Chinese artifacts, smuggling, forgery, Mafia money and some particularly unpleasant violence against the person. Donna Leon yet again sends Brunetti on a hunt to solve the crime, this time in company with an art expert and an opera diva, whilst drawing her usual detailed picture of Venice.
An enjoyable, if not particularly taxing read, this is book number five in a series that currently numbers sixteen (another is due in 2008 – full list below) and I enjoyed it just as much as the previous ones. The next in the series is ‘The Death of Faith’.
List of Brunetti novels (information from Wikipedia)
Death at La Fenice (1992)
Death in a Strange Country (1993)
The Anonymous Venetian (1994) aka Dressed for Death
A Venetian Reckoning (1995) aka Death and Judgment
Acqua Alta (1996) aka Death in High Water
The Death of Faith (1997) aka Quietly in Their Sleep
A Noble Radiance (1997)
Fatal Remedies (1999)
Friends in High Places (2000)
A Sea of Troubles (2001)
Wilful Behaviour (2002)
Uniform Justice (2003)
Doctored Evidence (2004)
Blood from a Stone (2005)
Through a Glass Darkly (2006)
Suffer the Little Children (2007)
The Girl of His Dreams (2008)
I didn’t really like the plot of these book. It is way to much biographical information in it. Plus, the main characters are not well drawn.
However, tastes differ. :)
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As you say, Dest, tastes differ.
This book, as I made clear, is part of a series. I am not sure I agree the characters are not well drawn, as you get to know them gradually as the series progresses. Although the story told in each book stands alone, anyone who joins the book in the middle of this series may find it difficult to engage with the characters. This, I suspect, has to be true for any series and reading the books randomly must be very confusing! I started with Book One (Death at La Fenice) and have found the books have improved as they go along, probably because I am getting more into the developing underlying storyline. Saying that, it is not a difficult book to read, with lots of complicated ideas and language. We do not always need ‘heavy’ fiction – it’s good to read something that holds the attention but does not over-challenge us from time to time.
hopeeternal