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Product Description
Book Description
Commissario Guido Brunetti dredges up dark secrets from Italy's anti-Semitic past in his captivating eleventh case.
Mystery lovers everywhere are addicted to Donna Leon's ever-honorable Commissario Guido Brunetti and her portrayal of Venice's beautiful but sinister byways and canals. In Willful Behavior, Brunetti is approached for a favor by one of his wife's students. Intelligent and serious , Claudia Leonardo asks for his help in obtaining a pardon for a crime once committed by her now-dead grandfather. Brunetti thinks little of it-until Claudia is found dead. Soon, another corpse and an extraordinary art collection lead Brunetti to long-buried secrets of Nazi collaboration and the exploitation of Italian Jews-secrets few in Italy want revealed.
Mystery lovers everywhere are addicted to Donna Leon's ever-honorable Commissario Guido Brunetti and her portrayal of Venice's beautiful but sinister byways and canals. In Willful Behavior, Brunetti is approached for a favor by one of his wife's students. Intelligent and serious , Claudia Leonardo asks for his help in obtaining a pardon for a crime once committed by her now-dead grandfather. Brunetti thinks little of it-until Claudia is found dead. Soon, another corpse and an extraordinary art collection lead Brunetti to long-buried secrets of Nazi collaboration and the exploitation of Italian Jews-secrets few in Italy want revealed.
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).
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Most helpful customer reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of my favourites in the Series,
By
This review is from: Willful Behavior (Paperback)
Book11, in the Commissario Guido Brunetti Mystery SeriesThis novel was originally published in 2002, I knew I had missed it while I read my way through the series so when it was reprinted in 2010; I seized the opportunity to catch up. Ms. Leon's earlier novels are thoughtful and satisfying in many ways and this one shines, it is a powerful murder investigation that has Brunetti uncovering dark secrets that date back as far as WW11. Claudia, a student of Paola, Brunetti's wife, asks for help in obtaining a pardon for a crime committed years ago by her now dead grandfather. He is intrigued by this unusual young lady's request but made little of it until she is found stabbed to death in her apartment. When Brunetti breaks the devastating news to Signora Jacobs, an old Austrian lady and Claudia's only close friend, he discovers an extraordinary art collection in her modest apartment. Brunetti always the investigator is intrigued and soon learns she was once Claudia's grandfather's lover. Could the stunning art collection have come from desperate people selling their prize possessions during the war and be the reason behind the grandfather's imprisonment.... When Signora Jacobs is also found murdered, Brunetti launches an investigation that will uncover shocking secrets. He discovers evidence hidden deep in the closets of Nazi Collaborators that ultimately reveals the exploitation of Italian Jews during the war...... This is an excellent example of a classic detective murder tale, a thought provoking story that highlights and exposes the way of doing business in a corrupt world. The first few chapters set the scenes really well while at the same time setting a sub-story which has Brunetti struggling to help a friend obtain a construction permit without paying the customary bribe. The characters are memorable, the plot is intricate and multi-dimensional, and the narration is fluid, it subtly and slowly draws the readers into a compelling and atmospheric tale that is interspersed with domestic interludes. Ms. Leon loves to show the personal side of Italian life through food and family interaction, an asset to any story when not overdone. This is one of my favourite novels in this series.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
4.2 out of 5 stars (16 customer reviews) 77 of 81 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
This book was published in 2002, not 2010,
By Kathleen - Published on Amazon.com
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Willful Behavior (Paperback)
The book is good. This misleading presentation by Amazon is not. This is not a new Leon book, as one might think, given that the only date provided is 2010. The book was published and copyrighted in 2002. It is #11 of Leon's (now) 19 books.
17 of 17 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of my favourites in the series,
By Toni Osborne "The Way I See It" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Willful Behavior (Paperback)
Book11, in the Commissario Guido Brunetti Mystery SeriesThis novel was originally published in 2002, I knew I had missed it while I read my way through the series so when it was reprinted in 2010; I seized the opportunity to catch up. Ms. Leon's earlier novels are thoughtful and satisfying in many ways and this one shines, it is a powerful murder investigation that has Brunetti uncovering dark secrets that date back as far as WW11. Claudia, a student of Paola, Brunetti's wife, asks for help in obtaining a pardon for a crime committed years ago by her now dead grandfather. He is intrigued by this unusual young lady's request but made little of it until she is found stabbed to death in her apartment. When Brunetti breaks the devastating news to Signora Jacobs, an old Austrian lady and Claudia's only close friend, he discovers an extraordinary art collection in her modest apartment. Brunetti always the investigator is intrigued and soon learns she was once Claudia's grandfather's lover. Could the stunning art collection have come from desperate people selling their prize possessions during the war and be the reason behind the grandfather's imprisonment.... When Signora Jacobs is also found murdered, Brunetti launches an investigation that will uncover shocking secrets. He discovers evidence hidden deep in the closets of Nazi Collaborators that ultimately reveals the exploitation of Italian Jews during the war...... This is an excellent example of a classic detective murder tale, a thought provoking story that highlights and exposes the way of doing business in a corrupt world. The first few chapters set the scenes really well while at the same time setting a sub-story which has Brunetti struggling to help a friend obtain a construction permit without paying the customary bribe. The characters are memorable, the plot is intricate and multi-dimensional, and the narration is fluid, it subtly and slowly draws the readers into a compelling and atmospheric tale that is interspersed with domestic interludes. Ms. Leon loves to show the personal side of Italian life through food and family interaction, an asset to any story when not overdone. This is one of my favourite novels in this series. 35 of 43 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
Willful Behavior,
By egreetham - Published on Amazon.com
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Willful Behavior (Paperback)
2 and 1/2 stars."Willful Behavior,"while not a return to the author's highest level, is more tolerable than Ms. Leon's most recent Brunetti novels. Its subject matter (the death of an appealing young woman and the survival of Fascism in modern Italy) is treated with relative texture and subtlety, and hero Commissario Brunetti seems less cranky than he has of late--tho he still really hates tourists. It's the atmosphere that makes these books so popular, and when that is in place, as it is here, you've got a reasonably entertaining, if predictable, mystery. In spite of the fact that so much of Leon's plotting turns, as usual, on Brunetti's noble father-in-law's wealth and connections, and his boss's beautiful secretary's subversive computer skills, "Willful Behavior" is a welcome improvement to this series. |
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