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"Donna Leon's bestselling mystery novels have won a multitude of fans for their insider's portrayal of Venice. From family meals to vaporetti rides, the details and rhythms of everyday life are an integral part of this beloved series. But so are the never-ending influx of tourists and the suffocating corruption. Through it all, Leon's Commissario Guido Brunetti, a good man who loves his family and his city, has been an enduring figure, but in Earthly Remains, Brunetti's endurance is tested more than ever before. During an interrogation, Brunetti acts rashly, doing something he quickly comes to regret, and in the fallout, he realizes that he needs a break. Granted leave from the Questura, Brunetti's wife Paola ships him off to a villa owned by a wealthy relative on Sant'Erasmo, one of the largest islands in the laguna. There he intends to pass his days rowing, and his nights reading Pliny's Natural History. The recuperative stay goes according to plan until David Casati, the caretaker of the house, goes missing following a sudden storm. Now, Brunetti feels compelled to investigate, to set aside his leave of absence and understand what happened to the man who had become his friend"--… (more)
User reviews
Out rowing with Casati
Once again Donna Leon takes an issue that is troubling modern Venice,embeds some crime fiction in it, and then makes us think about the bigger picture, issues that make even have global implications.
An excellent read.
The plot of 'Earthly Remains'
A very good read for all whodunit fans and for those who like foreign locations and especially for readers who want a great read.
After looking at the results of the tests, the doctor realized Guido had not had a heart attack but had high blood pressure. She said he was suffering from exhaustion caused by stress which might lead to a heart attack. She recommended that he take two or three works off to give himself a chance to recuperate.
Guido decided to go to Sant’Erasmo, a nearby island where one of his wife’s relatives had a home available for his use. The escape worked wonders. He looked forward to rowing and reading the Greek and Latin classics he hadn’t reread for awhile. Davide Casati, the caretaker of the property, and his daughter, Federica, took care of his every need: food, laundry, housecleaning by Federica and daily row boat trips with Davide, whose wife had died four years earlier and whose grave he visited at least once a week. He blamed himself for her death.
Davide was also a beekeeper. On one of their trips, Davide became very upset when he saw that his bees were dying. Then, one day, he told Guido that he would not be available the following two days because he had business to attend to. A violent storm swept through that night and he did not return. No one knew where he had gone.
Federica asked Guido’s help in locating her father and, with the help of the local authorities, he set out to do just that, interviewing people of the area and others that Davido had known in the past. In the process, hidden secrets began to surface.
The Commissario Guido Brunetti series is a welcome relief from the profane, violent, bloody, car chasing scenes typical in many modern mysteries. The main villains are the politicians and those with connections to them especially his boss, Vice Questore Guiseppi Patta. His long-time helpers, particularly Ispettore Lorenzo Vianetti, Claudia Griffoni, and his boss’s well-connected secretary, Signorina Elettra Zorzi play important roles. Surprisingly, when he talked on the phone with his wife Paola, he didn’t ask about their children.
Interesting observations:
“When the young man failed to react adequately to his self-effacing superiority, the lawyer ceased to use the plural when addressing the two men.”
When Brunetti returns to his office on his way home after being released from the hospital, he assumed the position of a sick man. “Patta, in his ineffable way, displaying the tact and discretion that had for years endeared him to his colleagues, seeing Brunetti, stopped dead and demanded, ‘What’s wrong with you now?’”
“The boat pulled in and tied up, and the early crowd of tourists disembarked, going off in search of their Indonesian-made Burano lace and Chinese-made Murano glass, certain that, out here on a genuine Venetian island, they’d be sure to get the real thing. And at a better price.”
“It’s always the odd, unpredictable things that set us off....Grief lies inside us like a land mind: heavy footsteps will pass by it safely, while others, even those as light as air, will cause it to explode.”
“His thoughts slid away and he considered why teasing cripples was so much worse than hurting them. They were cripples because their bodies had been damaged in some way, not their dignity. Teasing attacked any pride that had managed to survive.”
My main complaint with Donna Leon’s book is her unnecessarily short chapter. Often two or three chapters are immediate continuations of the previous chapter. I usually take away one star for that. However, in this case I will not do this because the book is dedicated “For Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
This is the twenty-sixth book in the series and, like its fellows, it is excellent. However, as I read the negative reviews on Amazon I must point out that it is a contemplative book, not a shoot-em-up, and the title could well have been "Pentimento".
I received a review copy of "Earthly Remains: A Commissario Guido Brunetti Mystery" by Donna Leon (Grove Atlantic) through NetGalley.com.
For those who have read Leon's last half dozen or so books, if I said
There's no escaping the stresses of modern life while reading Leon; her books are now centered on them.
And Brunetti's caught in a place and time that is out of joint.
(A reader's copy was provided by Netgalley.)
I have read only one or two of Donna Leon's Inspector Brunetti novels and after finishing Earthly Remains I wonder why. The writing is exactly as I would expect to hear the dialog spoken. The descriptions take you to the place and
Without giving up too much, Inspector Brunetti "falls on his sword" to save one of his officers from ruining an interview with a member of one of the city's more illustrious families. This leads to the Inspector taking a brief rest at a villa owned by one of his wife's relatives on an island in the Laguna. This is where the story really begins.
When the man that he was
I love all the book where Guido Brunetti is the central character trying to prevent or correct a social wrong. This was no different in bringing me a magnificent story.
Review: I knew this had to end
Good story,interesting
After a couple of novels where justice actually prevails, Leon returns to her typical format where truth doesn’t lead to justice. Brunetti is driven by the pursuit of truth, but it seems to be getting harder for him to live with the failures of the justice system.
A young girl has died in hospital. Antonio Ruggieri, aged Forty-two and a lawyer from an influential Venetian family, who gave the girl the pills, has come to the Questura for an interview. He’s slick, assured and speaks disrespectfully about the girl.
His
Brunetti takes time off and spends it out on the laguna at the end of Sant’Erasmo at a villa of Paola’s Aunt Costanza.
Caretaking the house is Davide Casati, a famous rower who rowed with Brunetti’s father. Casati takes Brunetti rowing and shows him his bees out beyond on the laguna. The bees are dying.
Not long after this Casati is found, in his boat dead presumably injured when caught in a storm
Brunetti investigates. Things are not as they seem, but where is the proof.
It seems to me Leon looks at the injustices perpetrated by the powerful and then continued by those who don’t look at the costs with this novel
A girl dies. Why?
Casati dies. Why?
Bees are dying. Why? This last very much defines the story as we look to the past, investigate the now and are fearful for the future!
A very different Brunetti tale. Brunetti is internalising things. He’s worn down and much given to philosophising about his beloved Vienna, the nature of man and consequences.
I found this Guido Brunetti story looks at who the the man is, and in doing so, we learn more bout our favourite Venetian commissario.
A Grove Atlantic ARC via NetGalley.
The plot begins in an almost idyllic fashion with Guido taking some ‘time off’ from his police duties and spending time on an outer island community surrounded
The ending is very different and very sad. Again, a puzzle, a mystery, is dissected and resolved - to a point - but justice and peace for the living is elusive.
*****
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813.54 |