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Title: Uniform Justice: A Commissario Guido Brunetti Mystery by Donna Leon ISBN: 0-87113-903-0 Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press Pub. Date: September, 2003 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.1 (10 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Leon's latest is simply fantastic!
Comment: Donna Leon's twelfth Commissario Guido Brunetti novel does not begin with a bang; instead, it begins with an apparent suicide, a hanging.
For all intents and purposes, the death of a young cadet at an exclusive Venetian military
school certainly must be a suicide. However, with the intellect, cunning, skill, and savvy of Leon and
Brunetti, what begins with a "simple" death soon works its way into an ugly, complicated, and
frightening murder in Leon's latest "Uniform Justice."
The young teenager is the son of a prominent doctor and politician, termed "honest" by any
standard. The father's honesty serves as a fault, however, and soon causes him to resign from
parliament, particularly following his investigation of corruption in military procurement. The
"web of deceit" in such cases seems to spread just about everywhere. His "anti-military" stance
does not go over well, especially at his son's military school. Thus begins a series of cover-ups, lies,
and deception--the ranks of the involved quickly close.
Not for the first time does Brunetti face the
"old school" of Venice. His task is formidable, but with the help of his wife Paola, his secretary
Signorina Elettra, and a few members of the department, Brunetti methodically and brilliantly
brings the case to its conclusion.
Leon, for all the love she bears for Venice, where she's lived for a
number of years, continues to champion the cause of the just, the honest, the uncorrupt, the
innocent, all descriptives of just about any place but Venice. Still, politics and social injustices
aside, Leon continues to hold firmly her legion of fans with her inimitable style, plot designs, superb
characterizations, and general "good literature." "Uniform Justice" is not easily laid aside until it
is finished.
One of Leon's strong suits is that she does not pretend that, when the final pages are read,
the world is then tied up nicely in a pretty bow and everything is okay. Romanticism in literature is
not Donna Leon; realism is alive and well and these themes permeate her twelve Brunetti novels.
Perhaps this is another reason she is so popular. ([email protected])
Rating: 3
Summary: The Difference between European & American mystery
Comment: I was told once that the difference between Europeans and Americans was perspective. Americans are optimists ; while Europeans are realists. I submit this novel as evidence.
In this police procedural, a student is discovered dangling from the ceiling in the dormitory shower at an "elite" military school in Venice. All signs point to suicide, but Commissario Brunetti's innate instincts give him reason to question that diagnosis. Thus, author Donna Leon follows Brunetti and his colleagues as they piece together evidence of murder and conspiracy.
Author Leon is acclaimed and well-respected in Europe, having received the Silver Dagger award for fiction in the United Kingdom. She writes well, to say the least. Her main character Brunetti has a heart of gold and a deep cynicism toward Venetian politics and military. His love and other Venetians' love for family is played here against a backdrop of dark hatred and a lust for power that permeates the perpetrators of a young man's murder.
Brunetti despises the military and Italian politicos. He describes a history of government by bribery and power brokers. He shows its toll on everyday Venetians and the deterioration of Venetian society. He holds out little hope for correction of this morass. And in the end, this morass prevents the kind of satisfactory ending that marks most American mysteries. Evil defeats good.
There are some great characters in this book: a police secretary who has the access to information and the ability to analyze it that will make any librarian proud ; a lovable teddy bear of a detective who turns to a beast at the right moment ; a stubborn, highly-principled and grief-stricken father of the victim ; and Brunetti's long-suffering and supportive wife who provides a moral foundation for this novel.
But the humanity of the characters cannot outweigh the fatalistic realism that looms over this novel. Readers of European fiction who do not need a happy ending will enjoy this book for its quality. But American readers accustomed to justice being served will be terribly disappointed.
Rating: 5
Summary: Sensitive and ugly
Comment: One imagines the writer Donna Leon to be like Paola, the Venetian Comisario's wife in "Uniform justice": An aristocratic communist,Italian style. There are No other books that I know of where you have very well crafted mysteries, set in the Venice of Venetians. This is not the honeymoon Venice of singing gondoliers.Leons novels are unflinching in their reality, revealing the corruption and class distinctions in a foggy,damp town over-run with tourists.The graciously human qualities of her detective and the ideosyncratic cast of characters are unique. The bonds of family and community are sesitively drawn and touching. Lovers of Venice will eat up every snippet of Venice itself,the walkways on a quiet winters night,a description of a very Venetian luncheon.
In all these mysteries, you are given all the clues. There is no person who comes in the last scene,or some information not revealed.Despite that, I did not guess the riddle in this installment until the very end, or in any of the other mysteries.Very satisfying.
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Title: A Noble Radiance by Donna Leon ISBN: 0142003190 Publisher: Penguin USA (Mm) Pub. Date: 26 August, 2003 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Death At La Fenice by Donna Leon ISBN: 0061043370 Publisher: HarperTorch Pub. Date: 01 January, 1995 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Doctored Evidence : A Commissario Guido Brunetti Mystery by Donna Leon ISBN: 0871139189 Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press Pub. Date: 09 April, 2004 List Price(USD): $22.00 |
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Title: The Voice of the Violin: An Inspector Montalbano Mystery by Andrea Camilleri, Stephen Sartarelli ISBN: 0670031437 Publisher: Viking Press Pub. Date: 06 November, 2003 List Price(USD): $21.95 |
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Title: The Terra-Cotta Dog: An Inspector Montalbano Mystery by Andrea Camilleri, Stephen Sartarelli ISBN: 0142002631 Publisher: Penguin USA (Mm) Pub. Date: 25 March, 2003 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
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