- Mass Market Paperback: 326 pages
- Publisher: Penguin Group(CA); Reprint edition (27 Mar 2007)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0143038060
- ISBN-13: 978-0143038061
- Product Dimensions: 17.4 x 10.9 x 2.3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,264,606 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Through a Glass Darkly
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Do the following two things appeal to you? A holiday in Venice, away from the tourist traps, investigating the city's more unusual nooks and crannies? Or trying (by proxy) to solve a particularly mystifying crime case with a variety of intriguing suspects? Well, you don't need either the money the first would require or the police qualifications the latter might need, if you merely shell out the modest outlay for Donna Leon's Through a Glass Darkly, the latest in her always assured Commissario Brunetti novels.
Admirers of these books need no recommendation: they have been amazingly consistent in their development over the years, and have rarely slipped into the overfamiliar--there's no sense that Donna Leon is tired of either Brunetti or his battles with municipal and governmental corruption.
It's spring in Venice, and Commissario Brunetti and his associate Vianello undertake a task not officially sanctioned by the Questura--they will try to do what they can for Vianello’s friend Marco, an eco-activist who has been arrested after an environmental protest turns ugly. Soon after, Brunetti witnesses the almost psychotic enmity of Marco's father-in-law, who almost seems prepared to murder his relative (a fear that Marco's wife shares). The old man's glass factory on Murano, the source of the conflict between father and son-in-law, becomes the scene for a murder: in front of the furnaces which eternally burn at high temperatures, a body is found and Brunetti’s search for the killer is aided by clues found in a volume of Dante.
All of the customary Leon fingerprints are satisfyingly in place here: the sultry and immensely vivid evocation of Venice; the ever-present pall of evil and corruption that suffuses the beauty of the city, and (most pleasurably of all) the careful delineation of character in Brunetti and his associates. This is a series that has a long time to run yet.
--Barry Forshaw --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
No one knows the labyrinthine world of Venice or the way favoritism and corruption shape Italian life like Leonas Brunetti . . . the thoughtful Venetian cop with a love of food, an outspoken wife, and a computer-hacker secretary who plays man Friday to his detective. ("Time")
--This text refers to the
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is the first Brunetti I have read and judging by other reviews of Leon's books, I may not have picked the best one to start with. I enjoyed the evocation of Venice and the portrayal of Brunetti himself but thought the plot was pretty thin & never got going. The denouement was in keeping with this. I quite enjoyed it & will read another Brunetti but would not rush to recommend this one.
23 of 25 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Donna Leon's fifteenth mystery is set on the island of Murano where her hero, Commissario Guido Brunetti, investigates a murder at a glass furnace there. Prior to the murder, Brunetti started snooping around Murano because of suspicion that one of the factory owners may be out to do bodily harm to his son-in-law, an environmental activist and good friend of Brunetti's sidekick, Vianello.
Leon writes her novels in the third person, and thus, almost everything is seen through Brunetti's thoughts and judgments. Through Brunetti's eyes, we experience a wonderful springtime in Venice and superb descriptions of glassware and the age-old art of glass making. Leon has done a lot of research for this book which is a primer on glass making lore and the operation of the factories on Murano. There is also biting social commentary on the effects of industrial pollution on the lagoon by not only the glass factories but also by the chemical and oil industries in nearby Margera. As is often the case, the murderer is motivated by Leon's old standbys--vanity, greed, and lust for power.
In a less serious vain, we get to enjoy selections from Dante's Inferno, the antics of Signorina Elletra, the stupidity of Vice-Questore Patta, and the usual immersion in Italian language, food, and culture.
Leon introduced a new character in this book--Paolo Foa. He is the boat pilot for the Questura and plays a key role in the solution of the crime. Foa replaces Bonsuan who was killed in book ten. He's an interesting guy and hopefully will appear in future books.
Leon writes her novels in the third person, and thus, almost everything is seen through Brunetti's thoughts and judgments. Through Brunetti's eyes, we experience a wonderful springtime in Venice and superb descriptions of glassware and the age-old art of glass making. Leon has done a lot of research for this book which is a primer on glass making lore and the operation of the factories on Murano. There is also biting social commentary on the effects of industrial pollution on the lagoon by not only the glass factories but also by the chemical and oil industries in nearby Margera. As is often the case, the murderer is motivated by Leon's old standbys--vanity, greed, and lust for power.
In a less serious vain, we get to enjoy selections from Dante's Inferno, the antics of Signorina Elletra, the stupidity of Vice-Questore Patta, and the usual immersion in Italian language, food, and culture.
Leon introduced a new character in this book--Paolo Foa. He is the boat pilot for the Questura and plays a key role in the solution of the crime. Foa replaces Bonsuan who was killed in book ten. He's an interesting guy and hopefully will appear in future books.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Kindle Edition
This is an average Donna Leon novel -a good read with the brain switched off. However - the Kindle edition is deplorable. Not a page without irritating typos, broken lines, weird punctuation and bizarre italicisation. This is the first Kindle book I've bought which has suffered from this, but it really isn't a commercial product in its present form. Come on, Amazon, get it sorted (and then explain why, after I've paid £150 for the device, popular paperbacks which I can buy in my local supermarket for £3.50 cost more in Kindle form with no paper, publishing or transport costs!!).
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Through a Glass Darkly
I bought this book in the Kindle version and was disappointed. The detective, Brunetti, was on form and the story was up to the author's usual standard, making use of aspects of... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Nora Walters
More soap opera than thriller
A colleague, and fellow Town Hall Book Club member kindly gave me her copy of this book to read on a long- haul flight to Aus. Read more
Published 1 month ago by K. K. Jakubczyk
Get Rid of the Typos
I love the atmosphere of Venice and as a long time visitor can imagine all the places that are mentioned in the book. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Cass
Murderous Murano
Donna Leon's fifteenth instalment in the Commissario Brunetti series lives up to the high standards of the previous stories. Read more
Published 11 months ago by Nicholas Casley
Not the best of Brunetti
Having read a few of Donna Leon's Brunetti series before this one, and enjoyed every one, I found all of the usual fascinating details about Venice and the familiar characters that... Read more
Published 15 months ago by JimG66
through a glass darkly
read it on kindle. great to get it easily onlne. love reading it on screen. but need to work on cleaning the text. broken words and forward slash instead of end quotes. Read more
Published 19 months ago by Gargoyle
book indicated for CAE
I've just received the book from Amazon and didn't have time to read all of the text.
But I already know it's a indicated book for CAE exams.
But I already know it's a indicated book for CAE exams.
Published 20 months ago by Ricardo
Through the Glass Ghastley!?
Donna Leon has long written to such a formula that 'read one read them all' is close to the truth, but I still do find her tales of the charming Brunneti provide a pleasant and... Read more
Published on 11 May 2010 by A. J. Ward
Donna Leon is still good, but .....
I was a bit dissapointed. The story is good, but noting new happened and I missed the usual arguments with the wife, the children, the secretary and the Commissario! Read more
Published on 7 Oct 2009 by Hanne Hendriksen
Brunetti, a poor apology for a human being
Having read all of Camilleri's novels and loved them I thought I'd give some more Italian writers a go and I tried this Donna Leon novel. Read more
Published on 28 Sep 2008 by Maccoll Hamish
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