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41st out of 162 books
—
72 voters
A Question of Belief (Commissario Brunetti #19)
by
Donna Leon
Donna Leon’s best-selling series featuring the principled, warmhearted Venetian Commissario Guido Brunetti has won her countless fans, critical acclaim, and international renown as one of the world’s best crime writers. In A Question of Belief, Brunetti must contend with ingenious corruption, bureaucratic intransigence, and the stifling heat of a Venetian summer. With his...more
Hardcover, 262 pages
Published
May 4th 2010
by Atlantic Monthly Press
(first published March 28th 2002)
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We open in the heat of a Venetian August - and on almost every page there's a reference to the heat, sweat, the sun, or clothing going limp or sticking to one's back. I got it: the place is unbearable in August.
Vianello (Commissario Brunetti's trusty second) approaches Brunetti with a problem: his aunt is spending a lot of money on something - they don't know what - and his cousin suspects it's some sort of scam. Brunetti agrees to help, and finagles some trainees into trailing the good Zia, on...more
Vianello (Commissario Brunetti's trusty second) approaches Brunetti with a problem: his aunt is spending a lot of money on something - they don't know what - and his cousin suspects it's some sort of scam. Brunetti agrees to help, and finagles some trainees into trailing the good Zia, on...more
My first Brunetti mystery and I can see the appeal. A solid mystery by a thoughtful detective,layered with the timeless struggle of being an ethical man surrounded by a corrupt and antiquated civil infrastructure in Italy. His solace - his family and books. Leon writes an leisure mystery, well paced, and perfect for calming mental visit to Italy. This installment focuses on the key issues of gender & other beliefs, challenging the most ardent Italian constitution.
Die Sommerhitze hat Venedig im Griff und auch Commissatio Brunetti ist hitzegeplagt. Aber nicht mehr lange, denn der Urlaub steht an und zusammen mit seiner Familie wird er die heiße Sommerzeit in den kühleren Bergen verbringen.
Selbst die Verbrecher scheinen eine Pause bei dem Wetter zu machen und so hat Brunetti Zeit sich ein bisschen um Viennellos Problem mit seiner Tante zu kümmern, die offenbar auf einen Trickbetrüger hereingefallen ist. Dazu bittet ihn ein alter Freund um einen Gefallen, de...more
Selbst die Verbrecher scheinen eine Pause bei dem Wetter zu machen und so hat Brunetti Zeit sich ein bisschen um Viennellos Problem mit seiner Tante zu kümmern, die offenbar auf einen Trickbetrüger hereingefallen ist. Dazu bittet ihn ein alter Freund um einen Gefallen, de...more
As opposed to most of my "reviews," based on reading and teaching over four decades, the Leon books I have not read but heard aloud (and in person, not from a tape or CD). They are filled with the complexities of Italy where a relative has lived for two decades: arrogant and expensive ruling class bureaucracy, the North-South divide (beginning at Rome!), justice as nearly impossible because of the interstices of power, the Court system biased through political connections and national prejudices...more
I have shied away from this series in the past, due to a slight phobia on books set in Venice. Up to this point, everything I had read seemed dark and depressing, rotten from the inside (much like the city itself). Boy, had I missed out!
As a selection of my mystery book club for the International Crime theme, I was hesitant to start a series so far in. I enjoy my book club and we have great selections, so I dived right in. Commissario Brunetti is suffering from the hot summer in Venice and is lo...more
As a selection of my mystery book club for the International Crime theme, I was hesitant to start a series so far in. I enjoy my book club and we have great selections, so I dived right in. Commissario Brunetti is suffering from the hot summer in Venice and is lo...more
Ms. Leon has written, as of 2010, nineteen books in this series. It is my intention to read every one of those nineteen titles. At this point I have now read six of them. Only thirteen left. So, what is it about these stories that I find so appealing, you might ask? I have given this some thought and what follows is my conclusions about why I find these stories so appealing.
First and foremost, the central character in all of these stories is Commissario Guido Brunetti. I find him so believable a...more
First and foremost, the central character in all of these stories is Commissario Guido Brunetti. I find him so believable a...more
About:
A Question of Belief is the nineteenth book in Donna Leon's series featuring a Venetian police commissioner named Guido Brunetti.
Set against the stifling Venetian heat, there are two investigations going on in this installment.
A man named Araldo Fontana has been murdered and he is suspect of being involved with a corrupt judge who delays trials for bribes. Guido was looking forward to a cool vacation in the Alps with is book loving wife Paola and their two children. He finds himself in th...more
A Question of Belief is the nineteenth book in Donna Leon's series featuring a Venetian police commissioner named Guido Brunetti.
Set against the stifling Venetian heat, there are two investigations going on in this installment.
A man named Araldo Fontana has been murdered and he is suspect of being involved with a corrupt judge who delays trials for bribes. Guido was looking forward to a cool vacation in the Alps with is book loving wife Paola and their two children. He finds himself in th...more
I really enjoy Leon's Brunetti novels and this was no exception. I can never review mystery novels because of the risk of spoilers but I love these books because aside from the plots, a) the descriptions of Venice are wonderful and b) the descriptions of food are mouthwatering and c) the insights into Italian politics are very well done without being at all polemical.
The other thing I love about the books is the relationship between Brunetti and his wife. It is so well drawn and makes a wonderfu...more
The other thing I love about the books is the relationship between Brunetti and his wife. It is so well drawn and makes a wonderfu...more
Page 35
Old women, Brunetti knew, often felt a need to give their money to good causes, and very often that cause proved to the Church. Through Brunetti would hardly call that a “good cause”, he knew that many people considered it to be, just as he knew that people who gave to the Church would feel no hesitation about naming it.
Page 49
Though the heat often drove people to violence that was not the case this year. Perhaps there was some point where heat and humidity made the effort to throttle or...more
Old women, Brunetti knew, often felt a need to give their money to good causes, and very often that cause proved to the Church. Through Brunetti would hardly call that a “good cause”, he knew that many people considered it to be, just as he knew that people who gave to the Church would feel no hesitation about naming it.
Page 49
Though the heat often drove people to violence that was not the case this year. Perhaps there was some point where heat and humidity made the effort to throttle or...more
Venice itself is one of the reasons I keep returning to this series. Leon really brings the city to life, good and bad. This time around it's summer and the heat is oppressive, but Brunetti ends up stuck in Venice, missing his family's vacation to the mountains. His family is not as present in this installment as they are in some of the others, but the bits we get with them are nice. They feel like real people and I actually adore how much both Brunetti and his wife love to read. The books are t...more
Ah, the last in the series (of those published thus far)--#19. I think I've read 15 of these mysteries the past few weeks. Eventually I'll figure out which ones I missed and mop up the rest.
I've enjoyed these a lot. I've learned a bit about Venice, learned that many of those who live in northern Italy are often disdainful of those in southern Italy, learned a bit about this, a bit about that. I have enjoyed the descriptions of food and the insight into daily/seasonal life. Mostly I've come to ap...more
I've enjoyed these a lot. I've learned a bit about Venice, learned that many of those who live in northern Italy are often disdainful of those in southern Italy, learned a bit about this, a bit about that. I have enjoyed the descriptions of food and the insight into daily/seasonal life. Mostly I've come to ap...more
I've yet to read a Guido Brunetti mystery that I didn't like, and A Question of Belief is a winner too. This story takes place during August when Venice is hot and humid, and Brunetti shortens his vacation to the cool Italian Alps to track down a killer, because he doesn't think his superior will really work to solve the crime. Donna Leon is a master at creating setting and character with a few careful words, and we really feel the heat and the lassitude of the Venetians.
Brunetti is one of my f...more
Brunetti is one of my f...more
This is my first Commissario Brunetti novel. I am not sure what the running tropes have been for the past 18 books, but the following struck me:
Commissario Brunetti is a compassionate, ethical, intelligent and emotionally sensitive man. As a pleasant change from typical detective cliches, he is socially adroit, and can handle the ins and outs of office politics with finesse, though he doesn't like it. He does not shy away from admitting his emotions, but is also very aware of how his culture had...more
Commissario Brunetti is a compassionate, ethical, intelligent and emotionally sensitive man. As a pleasant change from typical detective cliches, he is socially adroit, and can handle the ins and outs of office politics with finesse, though he doesn't like it. He does not shy away from admitting his emotions, but is also very aware of how his culture had...more
There is a fashion in police procedural novels to start with a violent prologue whose relevance only becomes apparent much later in the book. In contrast, Donna Leon's approach is almost old-fashioned, and none the worse for that. A Question of Belief begins mundanely with a puzzled Ispettore Vianello trying to come to terms with on-line card-reading and fortune telling. More serious, but more familiar themes take over - court cases unreasonably delayed, contracts of dubious legality. Commissari...more
Nineteenth in this series--third I have read, and it reveals one of the occasional pitfalls of reading such works out of order. I read one the other day written years earlier in which it is hot--oh so hot!--in Venice in August, and the Commissario's family is off enjoying summer vacation in a cooler clime, while he is drawn back to Venice to work on an important case. This time around, I discovered the plot structure is--get ready--it is hot--oh so hot!--in Venice in August, and the Commissario'...more
Hmmm. I'm having trouble deciding between Guido Brunetti, Venetian Commissario, and my earlier hero, Quebec's Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, from the Louise Penny series - who is my current favorite? Both middle-aged (okay, older middle-aged), sensitive, kind, and brilliant at solving the crimes they encounter. Both able to admit to mistakes, both mentoring younger colleagues. It's a great (library) world we live in, where we can tramp the snowy woods of Quebec, and, a week later, steam in the...more
As I read this Commissario Brunetti mystery by Donna Leon in August, I discovered season sympathy with its Venetian summer setting. As Brunetti transverses scorching squares seeking shade, I fled from an air-conditioned car to air-conditioned work or home settings.
Donna Leon displays a delightful subtle sense of humor in her dialogues and Venetian food and settings shine. As the mystery develops the reader is immersed into the Venetian court system, politics, real estate and banking. The plot s...more
Donna Leon displays a delightful subtle sense of humor in her dialogues and Venetian food and settings shine. As the mystery develops the reader is immersed into the Venetian court system, politics, real estate and banking. The plot s...more
I went to Venice on my first trip to Italy, it was July and so hot that I could not breathe! The heat and finding a shady place to relax with a cool drink so that my clothes could dry before moving on to the next shady spot was all that we thought of. I was reminded of this trip reading about Venice in August.
Poor Brunetti and Vianello. August is vacation time and they are both called away from their families to solve the murder of a court clerk back in the city. Vianello is also dealing with an...more
Poor Brunetti and Vianello. August is vacation time and they are both called away from their families to solve the murder of a court clerk back in the city. Vianello is also dealing with an...more
This time it is August in Venice, blazingly hot, and Brunetti is looking forward to two weeks in the mountains with his family. He has taken on two off the books investigations: a judge who seems to have a pattern of delaying civil trials to the benefit of one of the parties, and a charlatan who is taking large sums of money from elderly ladies. Putting those informal investigations on hold, Brunetti is on the train with his family when he is called back to Venice to investigate a murder: a cour...more
Apparently this is the 19th in the Brunetti series. I had no idea I had read so many. Which is a good sign as as it hasn't begun to drag as so many crime fictions series' do.
I think the aspects of these books that I love most are the descriptions of Venice and of Brunetti family life. Nothing set in a well described Venice can fail to enchant me. A look at Italian politics and way of life as seen through Brunetti, his wife and his colleagues eyes doesn't ever stop being fascinating.
My only quibb...more
I think the aspects of these books that I love most are the descriptions of Venice and of Brunetti family life. Nothing set in a well described Venice can fail to enchant me. A look at Italian politics and way of life as seen through Brunetti, his wife and his colleagues eyes doesn't ever stop being fascinating.
My only quibb...more
I'm sorry to realize that I've now read all but one or two of Leon's books and will soon have to wait for her to write more. These have become my "in-between" books, the books I turn to when I'm done with one title and don't feel drawn to anything else on my TBR pile. I know I can relax into Leon's world and enjoy myself.
I found a few of the titles in the middle of her run to be a little too cynical for me, but with her recent titles I think she's regained her stride, finding the right balance....more
I found a few of the titles in the middle of her run to be a little too cynical for me, but with her recent titles I think she's regained her stride, finding the right balance....more
Guido Brunetti is a commissario in Venice who lives in a 4th floor walkup with his wife and two teenagers. In this book, Guido and his assistant, Viancello, have two problems to work on. Vianello's aunt has been giving money to a fortune teller, and they follow her after she has withdrawn money to find who is. In an overlapping study, Brunetti received information about possible bribery in the judiciary involving a female judge and a clerk (always described as a good man). They then learn backgr...more
The newest entry in the Commisario Guido Brunetti series was published June 1, 2010. I enjoyed being back in Venice with the gang at the Questore, even if it was a hot and humid August where everyone is hot and disheveled without air conditioning. The story was not especially original and this is not one of her better books about Venice, but it was a pleasant place to spend a few hours while I recover from a bad summer cold.
In a nutshell: the closeted gay court clerk Fontana dies after a quicki...more
In a nutshell: the closeted gay court clerk Fontana dies after a quicki...more
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Perhaps Ms. Leon needs to slow down on releasing her books so she can dedicate a bit more to the development of them. Once again, this story focuses on two completely different plot lines and Leon just short changes them to include a little info on each and then a 'resolution' on each. Just seems a bit underachieving. One of the plot lines focuses on a shaman who is using a woman in a lab to doctor blood test results to trick people into thinking he can cure them. You never get introduced to the...more
My favorite subsersive endures August in Venice (Break down Guido and turn on the a.c.) while working to solve two crimes--the murder of a bureaucrat and the swindling of the gullible. Commissario Brunetti and Signorina Elettra would have done very well as members of the underground in occupied France. Instead, they battle institutionalized corruption and brazen disregard for others in modern day Italy. Their victories are more subtle than resounding; but, so far at least, they live to fight ano...more
Book 19, in Commissario Guido Brunetti mystery series
Ms. Leon is notorious at setting up highly charged atmospheric scenes with a Venetian flair and creating a wonderful cast of characters to go with it. In this latest mystery, we have once again, Commissiario Guido Brunetti dealing with a well-developed bureaucratic system built on stubbornness and corruption.
The story opens with Brunetti looking forward to a summer of fresh mountain air with his family and catching up on his reading. It is to...more
Ms. Leon is notorious at setting up highly charged atmospheric scenes with a Venetian flair and creating a wonderful cast of characters to go with it. In this latest mystery, we have once again, Commissiario Guido Brunetti dealing with a well-developed bureaucratic system built on stubbornness and corruption.
The story opens with Brunetti looking forward to a summer of fresh mountain air with his family and catching up on his reading. It is to...more
This is a very elegant and restrained character driven mystery. If you're looking for an action oriented police procedural or thriller, this is not the book for you. Ms. Leon reminds me a lot of PD James - there's something cool, calm, and collected about the way both of them write.
A Question of Belief has a strong sense of place and time. I could feel the heat and humidity of summertime Venice. I recognize the feeling of trying to move slow and stay cool when air conditioning is hard to find, o...more
A Question of Belief has a strong sense of place and time. I could feel the heat and humidity of summertime Venice. I recognize the feeling of trying to move slow and stay cool when air conditioning is hard to find, o...more
Donna Leon's A QUESTION OF BELIEV is a leisurely tale with no gun battles or car chases, just solid police procedure, the sifting of clues, and belatedly, a murder. The hero is a complex, cynical, and at times melancholy family man, trying to do his job and often stymied by government bureaucracy and blustering superiors. Leon creates such a rich sense of place that reading often feels like a slow vaporetto ride through the swelteringly humid canals of Venice, past splendid bridges and palazzi w...more
I'm pretty much over murder mysteries these days, so that wasn't a bit compelling although this is certainly a tightly plotted one and as satisfying as anything in this genre could be at this point.
What makes this book stand out is of course the atmosphere: great characterizations; great sense of place and detail; brilliant portrayal of the crushing summer heat and humidity. And that is, of course, exactly what this author's work is justifiably noted for. This is my first acquaintance with her w...more
What makes this book stand out is of course the atmosphere: great characterizations; great sense of place and detail; brilliant portrayal of the crushing summer heat and humidity. And that is, of course, exactly what this author's work is justifiably noted for. This is my first acquaintance with her w...more
Like in an earlier book, the Brunetti's are hoping to escape from the August heat to the mountains (they keep referring to the temperature in C, which according to my conversion equates to about 74 F, but maybe 100% humidity makes it unbearable w/o AC?). I was *Shocked* when Guido's first meal is a bag of corn chips and a chocolate bar dug out of a desk drawer! And it didn't get much better when his next meals were sandwiches and take out pizza while Paola was away in the mountains wearing sweat...more
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Donna Leon (born September 29, 1942, in Montclair, New Jersey) is an American author of a series of crime novels set in Venice and featuring the fictional hero Commissario Guido Brunetti.
Donna Leon has lived in Venice for over twenty-five years. She has worked as a lecturer in English Literature for the University of Maryland University College - Europe (UMUC-Europe) in Italy, then as a Professor...more
More about Donna Leon...
Donna Leon has lived in Venice for over twenty-five years. She has worked as a lecturer in English Literature for the University of Maryland University College - Europe (UMUC-Europe) in Italy, then as a Professor...more
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