- Paperback: 336 pages
- Publisher: Penguin Paperbacks; First Edition 1st Printing edition (Aug 26 2008)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 014311414X
- ISBN-13: 978-0143114147
- Product Dimensions: 17.5 x 10.6 x 2.5 cm
- Shipping Weight: 181 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #135,552 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
Book Description
The winner of the Crime Writers Association Macallan Silver Dagger-available for the first time in the United States
Donna Leon's sophisticated Commissario Brunetti series has won her legions of fans over the years. In Friends in High Places, Brunetti is visited by a young bureaucrat investigating the lack of official approval for the building of Brunetti's apartment years before. What began as a red tape headache ends in murder when the bureaucrat is found dead after a mysterious fall from a scaffold. Brunetti starts an investigation that will take him into unfamiliar and dangerous areas of Venetian life, and will reveal, once again, what a difference it makes to have friends in high places.
About the Author
A New Yorker of Irish/Spanish descent, Donna Leon first went to Italy in 1965, returning regularly over the next decade or so while pursuing a career as an academic in the States and then later in Iran, China and finally Saudi Arabia. It was after a period in Saudi Arabia, which she found 'damaging physically and spiritually' that Donna decided to move to Venice, where she has now lived for over twenty years.
Her debut as a crime fiction writer began as a joke: talking in a dressing room in Venice's opera-house La Fenice after a performance, Donna and a singer friend were vilifying a particular German conductor. From the thought 'why don't we kill him?' and discussion of when, where and how, the idea for Death at La Fenice took shape, and was completed over the next four months.
Donna Leon is the crime reviewer for the London Sunday Times and is an opera expert. She has written the libretto for a comic opera, entitled Dona Gallina. Set in a chicken coop, and making use of existing baroque music, Donna Gallina was premiered in Innsbruck. Brigitte Fassbaender, one of the great mezzo-sopranos of our time, and now head of the Landestheater in Innsbruck, agreed to come out of retirement both to direct the opera and to play the part of the witch Azuneris (whose name combines the names of the two great Verdi villainesses Azucena and Amneris).
Inside This Book
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
A tale of Corruption,
By
This review is from: Friends In High Places (Paperback)
Also under the title "The Dark Side of Venice"(The ninth book in the Guido Brunetti series) One day, Commissario Brunetti is visited by Franco Rossi, a young bureaucrat concerned about the lack of official approval to build his apartment years before. There are no existing plans for this addition in the registry's office; in fact, on record, the flat was never built. The Brunetti family fears a blackmail scenario, resulting in demolition or an enormous fine even though the original construction was done years ago and the legal aspect was duly notarised. After months of anxiety and a lack of follow-up from the registry's office it comes to Brunetti attention that Rossi has been found dead. With an interest on more than one level, the detective looks into the young man's work life and discovers an underworld link to drugs and loan-sharking. At the same time, Brunetti's boss Patta reveals his personal problems in relation to the world of drug dealers, thugs and crooks ..it never ends.. Ms Leon successfully plays with the idea that corrupt practices breed more corruption. This is a very good read, written in a simple language with the odd Italian word to accentuate the atmosphere. The returning characters are well drawn; Brunetti and his wife are the same likable couple maintaining balance between their working life and their family life. What is an Italian story without food, the author never lets us down and her description is so vivid you can almost smell the aroma. This is another well done book in her series.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Public Corruption and Personal Values,
By Donald Mitchell "Jesus Loves You!" (Thanks for Providing My Reviews over 112,000 Helpful Votes Globally) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER) (#1 HALL OF FAME)
This review is from: Friends in High Places (Audio Cassette)
If you've liked the Guido Brunetti mysteries, you will probably feel that this is one of the best in the series.What's it all about? Commissario Guido Brunetti meets an honest public official, and crime follows as those who cheat and admire cheaters seek to remain hidden from honest men. If that's all this book represented, it would be but an average mystery. Ms. Donna Leon adds a more intriguing element to the story: Corrupt practices breed more corruption . . . both of the heart and of the pocket book. To make the story more effective, she places Guido and Paola Brunetti in the middle of temptations that he isn't able to resist. In Venice, the Ufficio Catasto is in charge of approving building plans and being sure they are faithfully carried out. As in many cities, homeowners try to avoid extra taxes by keeping improvements hidden from the government. Franco Rossi arrives from the Ufficio Catasto to ask Guido if he has the plans for his apartment. Why? The Ufficio Catasto has no record of plans or permits for the apartment. What does this mean? Guido may have to pay a large fine; he may have to make substantial changes in the apartment; or he may have to demolish the apartment. None of those choices seem attractive. What about using a little influence to avoid the problem? That temptation dangles before the Brunettis throughout the story. But they are not the only ones who have such challenges -- Vice-Questore Patta also has the need for some help with public matters. Guido finds himself placed in the middle of that moral choice as well. During the course of the story, Guido also learns about other unpleasant parts of the underbelly of Venice "civilization" that lurks beneath the beautiful exterior that the tourists love to admire. It's a powerful story that will leave you seeing Venice differently than you have before. Enjoy!
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent read.,
By mst (Canada) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Friends In High Places (Paperback)
'Friends in high places' is all I expect from this Donna Leon series. The characters grow with each story and the descriptions if Venice take me right back to the narrow calles.Another very enjoyable read.
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