A Sea Of Troubles - Softcover

Leon, Donna

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0099536579 ISBN 13: 9780099536574

Publisher: Arrow, 2009

Synopsis

The murder of two clam fishermen off the island of Pellestrina, south of the Lido on the Venetian lagoon, draws Commissario Brunetti into the close-knit community of the island, bound together by a code of loyalty and a suspicion of outsiders worthy of the Mafia. When the boss' secretary Signorina Elettra volunteers to visit the island, where she has relatives, Brunetti finds himself torn between his duty to solve the murders, concerns for Elettra's safety, and his not entirely straightforward feelings for her ...

About this title

Review:

The Venetian Lagoon is full of small island communities who do things their own way, and hardly acknowledge the authority of the local police, let alone the Italian state. When, in A Sea of Troubles two Pellestrina fishermen are murdered, and their boat set alight, Commisario Brunetti has trouble finding anyone in the small barren fishing port who will talk to him, let alone help him catch the killer. The only person able to break through to them is his elegant friend and ally Elettra, who has relatives there with whom she regularly stays--Brunetti neither wants to put her at risk nor cares to examine too closely why he cares so very much what happens to her... As always with Leon's chatty bittersweet novels of police procedure, this is stronger on emotion than on puzzle--the actual process whereby Brunetti finds out who killed unpleasant old Giulio and personable young Marco is solidly laid out, but not especially unpredictable. What is important to us, though, is her undoubted capacity to take us through the emotions--Elettra's combination of excitement at actually doing police investigation rather than office politics with a rebound fling with a local fisherman; Brunetti's concern that he is getting in over his head emotionally. --Roz Kaveney

Review:

"The arrival of a new Donna Leon book fills me with pleasurable anticipation. She tells a good story, including the best of all current police detectives, Commissario Brunetti, and locates it in a superbly described Venice. The plot is beautifully constructed. The climax is exciting and disturbing ... Brunetti is as irresistible as ever" (The Scotsman)

"Donna Leon goes from strength to strength ... This is her tenth novel but it's as fresh and entertaining as the first" (The Observer)

"Mesmerising" (Express on Sunday)

"A splendid series ... with a backdrop so vivid you can smell it" (Sunday Telegraph)

"Brunetti is hard to beat - Leon's tenth novel more than maintains the standard of its predecessors" (TLS)

About this edition

• Publisher: Arrow
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0099536579
• ISBN 13: 9780099536574
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 336