Through a Glass, Darkly

Commissario Brunetti #15

by Donna Leon

Donna Leon opens doors to the hidden Venice like no one else. With her latest novel, Through a Glass, Darkly, Leon takes us inside the secretive island of Murano, home of the world-famous glass factories. On a luminous spring day in Venice, Commissario Brunetti and his assistant Vianello play hooky from the Questura in order to help Vianello's friend Marco Ribetti, arrested during an environmental protest. They secure his release, only to be faced by the fury of the man's father-in-law, Giovanni De Cal, a cantankerous glass factory owner who has been heard in the bars of Murano making violent threats about Ribetti. Brunetti's curiosity is piqued, and he finds himself drawn to Murano to investigate. Is De Cal the type of man to carry out his threats? Then one morning the body of De Cal's night watchman is found. Over long lunches, on secret boat rides, in quiet bars, and down narrow streets, Brunetti searches for the killer. Will he unravel the clues before the night watchman's death is allowed to be forgotten?

A fascinating novel set in the intersection between tourism and native Venetian society, Through a Glass, Darkly is Donna Leon at her finest.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Italy, Crime, Audiobook, Mystery Thriller, Detective

256 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Donna Leon (born September 29, 1942, in Montclair, New Jersey) is an American author of a series of crime novels set in Venice and featuring the fictional hero Commissario Guido Brunetti.

Donna Leon has lived in Venice for over twenty-five years. She has worked as a lecturer in English Literature for the University of Maryland University College - Europe (UMUC-Europe) in Italy, then as a Professor from 1981 to 1999 at the american military base of Vicenza (Italy) and a writer.

Her crime novels are all situated in or near Venice. They are written in English and translated into many foreign languages, although not, by her request, into Italian. Her ninth Brunetti novel, Friends in High Places, won the Crime Writers' Association Silver Dagger in 2000.

Series:
* Commissario Brunetti

Reviews

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

Donna Leon has essentially given up on writing mysteries and/or police procedural books in favor of writing whatever's on her mind that day. This book is not a mystery - Brunetti wanders around for the first half of the book wasting police time even more egregiously than usual, until someone he's talking to is conveniently murdered - and it ends in the least satisfying way possible. As I've said before on far too many occasions, I luckily do not read the Brunetti books for their mysteries, but rather for passages like this:

Brunetti found himself back in the court of the Emperor Heliogabalus, one of his favorite monsters. Ah, the excess of it, the violence, the utter corruption of everything and everyone. The lasagne had layers of ham and thin slices of artichoke hearts interleaved with layers of pasta that he suspected might have been home made. He would have preferred more artichokes. He shared his table with decapitated senators, evil counsellors, barbarians bent on the destruction of the empire. He took a sip of wine and ate another bite of lasagne.

I know that this is not compelling reading for 99% of the people on this planet, but I EAT THIS UP. For whatever reason, these books tickle me and act as the perfect palate cleanser between two books I actually want to read. This book took me six days to finish, which would be alarming with any other mystery and/or novel but for Leon is par for the course. I can now safely move on from Navajo wars to YA steampunk.

Favorite features of this installment include:

- The time devoted to lunch at Nanni's on Murano, where the waiter is careful to recite the menu slowly only if you're with locals
- The very enjoyable two pages in which Brunetti eats lunch with Gibbon (see above)
- The long and detailed description of drinking done by Italian workmen, from un'ombra at 11 to the grappa before bedtime
- The number of times Brunetti reflects on Veneziano vs. Italian, which to many older Venetians is a foreign language they don't care to speak
- Signorina Elettra practicing English with Patta ("does this bus go to Hammersmith?")
- The long, detailed descriptions of the glassblowers on Murano going about their business

See you in a couple weeks, Leon!

[Alex is The Romance Fox · Rating 3 out of 5]

Donna Leon’s 15th book in her Commissario Brunetti Series and once again we are back in the beautiful city of Venice.

It's springtime and Commissario Brunetti asked by his assistant, Vianello, to help him rescue his good friend who has being arrested for taking part in an environmental demonstration. But there may be more to the arrest and soon Brunetti and Vianelli become suspicious when they hear that someone might want to harm the friend.

Most of the story takes place in the secretive island of Murano,

home of the world-famous glass factories, where a murder of a furnace worker is discovered in one of the glass factories.

Environmental concerns , pollution, corruption, politics, greed, vanity, food, family life, Dante's Inferno........and a fantastic and well-researched history of the age-old art of glass making.

Signorina Elletra is just as fabulous and Vice-Questore Patta, Brunetti's boss, just as stupid and vain. I adore the way the characters have developed throughout this series. We have become very familiar with them. A new character, Paolo Foa, is introduced to replace the Questura's boat pilot, Bonsuan, who was killed in book #10 and he's quite an interesting character and I look forward to his future appearances.

The plot was fairly slow - the actual murder doesn't take place until halfway through but we do get to enjoy the glassmaking information, the sunny spring days in Venice, eating and drinking and reading Dante's Inferno.

An enjoyable addition.

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

The fifteenth book in the Inspector Brunetti series is a much darker story than previous ones. Yes, there’s a little humor. But the tone itself is much bleaker. It’s also a much slower book than its predecessors. As with each of the books in the series, it tackles a serious subject, in this case industrial pollution.
Brunetti helps Marco, a friend of Vianello’s, when he’s arrested during an environmental protest. Upon his release, they overhear Marco’s father-in-law making threats. The father-in-law is a glass manufacturer in Murano. It’s a long while before there’s an actual crime, which is the murder of a night watchman at the factory.
This was probably my least favorite of the series. Too slow, too ponderous and too serious. I still enjoy the characters , so I will continue with the series. But I can only hope it returns to more of the fun I remember from earlier books.

[Carol Crawford · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am hooked on Leon's series. Why? Her characters, and the powerfully visual way she evokes her environment. Commissario Brunetti , like all central detective characters, sets the tone of her works. He is human, humane, leads a normal home life, hates guns and violence, loves where he lives and deplores, like New Yorkers, the negative changes in his world and the onslaught of tourists. But most of all, he has an Italian "che sera, sera"...many of these mysteries are not resolved in favor of justice, and the bad guys often get away. they are gently philosophical, and filled with good recipes!...truly, they give the reader the full flavor of what it is like to live in Venice. And the stories are intriguing.

[Madeline · Rating 1 out of 5]

It's been a while since I've read something that gave me the opportunity to write a truly scathing review here. So if nothing else, I guess I should thank Donna Leon for writing this horribly ill-conceived addition to the Guido Brunetti series, and thereby giving me ample material to rake this book over the coals.

This is my third Leon mystery, which I guess is a good thing: if this were the first Brunetti story I'd read, it would be enough to convince me that I should never pick up anything Donna Leon wrote ever again.

This book should not have been written as a Guido Brunetti mystery. It's not even a detective novel - it's a half-assed environmental thriller that fails to thrill, or indeed cause any emotion other than mild annoyance at the fact that the characters are discussing pollution in Murano, again. It's true that there is a murder, so I guess you can technically classify this as detective fiction, but that doesn't mean there's any actual detecting going on. Take note, Leon: a corpse does not a detective novel make. John le Carre already did this ecological-thriller schtick with The Constant Gardener, and he did it better. (I say smugly, having only seen the movie)

The pace is plodding, the story is boring, the characters are banal, and ends not with a bang, but a deeply disappointing and anticlimactic whimper.

Commissario Brunetti deserved better.

[Noella · Rating 2 out of 5]

Twee sterren betekent 'it was ok'. En dat was het, maar niet meer.
Het verhaal las vlot, er waren mooie en, voor de liefhebbers, interessante beschrijvingen van Venetië, het eten, en ook een hele uiteenzetting over de werking van de glasfabrieken in Murano.
Maar het was zeker geen triller, eigenlijk eerder een slap detectiveverhaal, vond ik.
Brunetti wordt gevraagd een man vrij te pleiten die gearresteerd was na een milieubetoging. Het is de schoonzoon van een eigenaar van een glasfabriek.
Nadien hoort Brunetti dat de schoonvader doodsbedreigingen zou geuit hebben tegen de man. Hij gaat mensen ondervragen of dit waar is, en of het serieus genomen moet worden.
Zo maakt hij ook een praatje met Tassini, een man die in de glasfabrieken werkt en die een tweeling heeft, waarvan het dochtertje ernstig gehandicapt is. Sindsdien is Tassini eropuit om aan te tonen dat door miieuvervuiling, veroorzaakt door de fabrieken, de arbeiders genetisch aangetast zijn, en dat zou volgens hem de oorzaak zijn van de problemen van zijn dochter.
Niet lang daarna wordt Tassini dood gevonden vlak voor een oven in de fabriek. Hij heeft een wonde op het hoofd, maar de echte doodsoorzaak zou hartfalen zijn, veroorzaakt door uitdroging door te lang in zo'n grote hitte te liggen.
Brunetti bekijkt het dossier dat Tassini aangelegd heeft over de fabrieken, en wordt zo meer en meer verwikkeld in de milieuzaak. Kan hij achterhalen wat er echt aan de hand is? Wie er verantwoordelijk is? En was de dood van Tassini een ongeluk of was hij neergeslagen?
Aan de eigenlijke (moord)zaak wordt eigenlijk weinig aandacht geschonken, het gaat het meest over de vervuilingskwestie.
Niet wat ik verwacht en gehoopt had.

[Roman Clodia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't know, this somehow doesn't have the depth that can make Leon's books so significant in terms of social commentary. The potential is there, as the book tackles industrial pollution and the political corruption that keeps it hidden - but the trajectory feels wavering and the story never really revs up. Nice insight into the glass factories of Murano, though.

[Kristel · Rating 1 out of 5]

Donna Leon writes lushly about a Venice in regal decay, with the urbane and likable Commissario Guido Brunetti as her main character, yet it was not until 158 pages in (halfway through the novel) that the crime the good detective was supposed to investigate even occurred. This, I think, encapsulates everything I found frustrating about Through a Glass, Darkly.

I waffled between giving this book 3 or 2 stars on Goodreads because it really wasn’t an awful book. But as a mystery, it completely reneges on its promises. It’s as if the writer simply wanted to write a travelogue with Brunetti as the main character telegraphing his thoughts on the dangers of nuclear waste and its effect on a historical city such as Venice. The crime here is an afterthought.

Read more of this review.

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the things, of many things, I like about Donna Leon's series with Commissario Brunetti is the wonderful family parts of the stories. Brunetti's wife is intelligent and passionate about her beliefs which are sometimes at odds with her husband's. The children are smart and articulate. And the food is mouth watering. Another thing is the stories are always thought provoking. The main theme of Through a Glass Darkly is pollution and the environment. There is a murder that needs to be solved and it may or may not have all its loose ends tied up neatly. The ongoing characters are so well described that I can see them in the room when Brunetti is with them. I've about read my way through the whole series and it always saddens me when I come to the end of a series and then have to wait awhile for the newest one.

[Bill · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's always comforting to enjoy a Commissario Brunetti mystery by Donna Leon. Through a Glass, Darkly is the 15th book in this excellent, entertaining series set in Venice, Italy.

Brunetti and his right-hand man, Vianello, are asked to go help a friend of Vianello's, Marco Ribetti, who was arrested in an environmental protest. Ribetti is released without charges but his wife tells Brunetti that she fears her father wants to kill Ribetti. Her father owns a glass factory and is an angry, unsettling man. He fears that when he dies Ribetti will change the factory.

This is an entertaining story that moves along from a potential murder to an investigation of potential environmental crimes (poisoning the lagoon with chemicals) and the possible effects on the people who work at the factory (ies) and also their families. There is a death which will disturb both Brunetti and Vianello. The regular cast makes appearances; lovely wife, Paola, son and daughter, Raffi and Chiarra, Brunetti's boss, Questore Patta (hoping for a job in England) and his excellent secretary, Signora Elettra. These people don't play major roles in this story as Brunetti basically works on his own. There is unusual friction between him and Vianello and even the Signora and it's not explained too much.

All in all it's a fascinating, entertaining story and it flows along very nicely. The environmental issues are very topical and the characters are all excellent. Most enjoyable story like every Brunetti I've read so far. (4 stars)

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

As I gambol through Donna Leon's series I realize what an admirable friend the would make. After every disappointing novel, I seem to seek out one of her books because I enjoy spending time with them, so I realized how much I would like her at my dinner table.

She clearly enjoys a few drinks and a good meal;

She has an appreciation for subtle moral dilemmas and seems willing to ponder them;

She clearly has a sense of humor (witness Signorina Elettra); and

She has an interesting smattering of knowledge in many areas (or at least is capable of researching them well).

All of these elements make her an author well worth spending a few hours with. I never care too much about the "mystery," it is the small world that she creates that is so intriguing.

[Janet Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

As always this was a very enjoyable novel. Honestly, I don't read them for the mystery--I read them for the characters, the scenes in Venice, the food, and the human interest.

[Dorothy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Time for a trip to Venice to see what's happening with Commissario Guido Brunetti. It is spring in Venice and Guido is enjoying the early greening of the vegetation and the soft, sunny days of the season. He takes every opportunity he can to escape from his office at the Questura and bask in the sensual vernal pleasures.

But, of course, as always happens, work has a way of interfering with Guido's pleasure.

In this instance, it starts with his assistant Vianello asking him to intervene in a case in which a friend of his who is an environmental activist has been arrested during a protest. It turns out there really is no case against the man, Ribetti, and he is released. But as they are leaving the police station they encounter the man's father-in-law, Giovanni De Cal, who is the owner of a glass factory in Murano. De Cal despises his son-in-law and is furious with him for being arrested. He takes Ribetti's environmental activism as a personal affront. He accosts his son-in-law and threatens him, as he has been known to do before.

It's not clear whether De Cal is a man who would actually act on his threats of violence, but soon after, his night watchman is found dead under suspicious circumstances next to one of the factory furnaces. The night watchman had believed that harmful chemicals in the soil and water had been responsible for the disability of his little daughter and he had been investigating the soil and water around the glass factories to try to prove his theory. Had De Cal or the other owners considered him a threat that they had to get rid of?

We know from experience that any case that Brunetti investigates is going to uncover a morass of corruption, both public and private, and that happens once again here. It turns out that some of the Murano glass factories, including De Cal's, have been evading regulations that were put in place to ensure that they were not poisoning the soil and water and inspectors had not discovered the infractions. It was left to people like the night watchman to ferret out the information and make it known. But the challenge for Brunetti is to prove that the man was murdered instead of dying by accident, or, failing that, to at least hold the factories accountable for their pollution and the danger they pose to public health. It's a tall order especially when the owners of the factories have powerful political allies, but Brunetti and Vianello are seasoned warriors in the battle with Italian bureaucracy.

I found the plot of this entry in the Commissario Brunetti series to be particularly interesting and well-done, and I learned quite a bit about the ancient art of glass-making in the process of reading it. The characters, as usual, are well-drawn. Donna Leon has done a good job of keeping this long-running series fresh and entertaining. On the whole, I count this as one of the better reads in this series.

[notgettingenough · Rating 1 out of 5]

What a bore. As usual with these sorts of writers when they no longer have a plot in them they turn to political-social issues. In this case the relationship between pollution, glass-making and politics in Venice.

It isn't that I totally don't want to read about these things, but if I do, I will not choose to do so via the conduit of a murder-mystery.

So, no plot to speak of, and on top of that, dreadfully proofread. The book is laced with words hyp-henated for no rea-son whatsoever. I'm guessing something was taken out or added and nobody bothered to check the impact on the type-setting.

[Donna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Brunetti...a great detective. And in this book I would have loved being with him for about an hour after the story ends. Not a "leaves you hanging" ending, but he's just gotten some new information that's going to upset his boss, Patta. This mystery reveals as much about the corruption in Venice as it does about solving the puzzle. As a Chicagoan, it's not unfamiliar territory.

Great series. Read in order.

[Cathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

What I find delightful about Donna Leon’s books about Commissario Brunetti in Venice is the repartee he has with his family, his co-workers, and everyone he meets. Much is said tongue in cheek, whether in subtle, comic collaboration with his co-conversant, or to be kind, or to be civil with a modicum of truth wrapped in irony. The machinations of political and bureaucratic obscurantism are at once fascinating and surprisingly revealing. Very little happens in Brunetti’s investigations without multiple levels of observation and response. Brunetti is not only politically savvy; he is dedicated toward finding the most satisfactory result despite obstructions in his way that would appear to stymie his efforts at first. The beautiful bonus in Leon’s series is the capacity Brunetti has for joy and delight, in the love for his wife and children, for good food, for his coworkers, for people he meets along the way, and for works of art, literature and music that transport him for a time beyond the scurrilous lies and sad truths he keeps uncovering around him.

Throughout all these levels, a clarity of continuity pervades, a matter-of-factness that this is how things are, and these are the things that happen. The timeline is straightforward. If something happens in the past, Brunetti hears about it in the present and moves steadily forward with the information, brick by brick, until his case is built.

Horrible things can happen in Brunetti’s days and nights, yet each unfortunate occurrence is treated with delicacy and respect. The reader does not have to withstand the most grotesque aspects of brute force, for the discovery is most often made after the deed is done. Even the aftermath is described with discretion. We readers are not bludgeoned. We are witnesses separated from the brutal worst by the respect of Brunetti for the human condition.

The result is a read at once pleasurable and concerning, stretching the reader’s mind and expanding the spirit.

[Dolf Patijn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the Brunetti series. I don't give the book 5 stars because it is formula writing in a way. I do love the way that Venice is described, almost like another character in the book. I love reading about Guido's family life and the descriptions of food. Don't read these books when you're hungry. I also like the way Donna Leon draws attention to the environmental issues in Venice and Italy as a whole and all the politics involved.

[Maria João Fernandes · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Tal como Brunetti, ela achava que os livros funcionavam como um espelho da pessoa que os acumulava."

Donna Leon tem uma característica que me agrada imenso: em cada livro do Comissário Guido Brunetti explora uma parte diferente de Veneza, através de um crime sem igual e apresentando uma investigação única. A diversidade dos seus crimes podem não agradar de igual forma a uma mesma pessoa, porque são de facto muito diferentes, mas a verdade é que aprendemos muito sobre a forma de viver dos venezianos e, de um forma mais geral, dos italianos.

A autora americana, que não permite que os seus livros sejam traduzidos em italiano, é atrevida e não receia expor o que Veneza tem de pior. Da mesma forma, não poupa os elogios merecidos e faz-nos apaixonar por Veneza, uma e outra vez, em cada novo livro.

O mistério do décimo quinto livro de Brunetti tem lugar na ilha de Murano, focando a história em torno das famosas fábricas de vidro, dos seus operários e dos seus patrões.

Como sempre, Brunetti tem ao seu lado Vianello, seu colega e amigo, a Signorina Electra, sempre ao seus dispor na recolha de informações por meios menos legais, Paola, a sua mulher eternamente apaixonada e dedicada e Patta, o seu chefe que não o poupa aos seus inúmeros aborrecidos discursos, mas que no fundo tem bom coração-

Em "Veneno de Cristal" Donna Leon faz uma reflexão critica sobre os efeitos da poluição industrial na lagoa e ataca as segundas intenções dos políticos. A vaidade, a sede de poder e a ganância são alguns dos motivos que pairam numa atmosfera de suspeição.

Como sempre, o livro está imerso na língua italiana, na cultura de Itália, nos hábitos dos venezianos, na comida italiana e em toda a sua cultura. É de destacar os termos italianos que são mantidos nas edições portuguesas e que nos fazem sentir mais perto do país em forma de bota.

Apesar de o tema em volta do mistério relatado não ser dos meus preferidos, como sempre gostei muito de acompanhar as personagens, que já fazem um bocadinho parte de mim e quem já considero meus amigos.

"Vais conseguir. Ou então não vais. Em qualquer dos casos, continuarás sempre a ser a estrela brilhante da minha vida."

[Marina Maidou · Rating 3 out of 5]

Donna Leon is not an Agatha Christi's style writer. You won't find an explanation at the end by the great detective to the crowd of innocents and guilties. Her books have an allusive style and you must try hard to find the crime and the guilty. This one was the most allusive book I ever read. Even the title is a hind (it comes from Bible) and it shows that whole the book is a hind (the greek title as Requiem for the Glass Town, has a more poetic style). A crime in Murano island which is given after the second half of the book. You find very hard who killed poor Tassini and more harder, why he killed him. But most of the book is Venice. An unknown non-touristic Venice, full of gastronomic treasures complexed with the existentially humanitarian thoughts of serious Brunetti and views of social problems in a false shiny Venice. At last you don't care so much about the crime but more about this fragile city which seems like a dream you try to keep it in reality. The hints in the case were so many that even the end is completely cut; you only imagine what happens about the justice in Tassini's murdered life. And of course don't expect nothing about the rest persons that began the story as like Ribetti, Assunta De Cal and others. But you get Venice in private eye and you wish that if you'll be lucky to go there, to find the Donna Leon's landmarks. Maybe her next book should be in Venice and have nothing to do with murders.

[Pat Hansbury · Rating 4 out of 5]

Since I returned from Venice, I have three of the Guido Brunetti books. They are not great. Very light. But, Venice is the real star of the books. It is so much fun reading how Guido hops on and off the same boats I just took in Venice. In this book, he talks about eating at the same restaurant by the Grand Canal near Rialto Bridge where we ate our last night in Venice. So, they are light and fun.

[Katy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have now read six of these mysteries. They are among the finest mystery novels I have ever read, sparkling with intelligence as well as a sensitive understanding of human nature and a thoroughly dark view of politics and government. Commissario Brunetti stands out as a sterling example of one man retaining his humanity amidst the chaos.

[Nigeyb · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was a bit bored despite enjoying many previous Brunetti books. Probably a case of right book, wrong time.

[Denise · Rating 3 out of 5]

Once upon a time, these used to be fairly gripping murder mysteries... this one manages to ramble on for half the book before the actual murder occurs, and the investigation into it is rather half-assed as Leon is too busy talking about the problem of pollution and environmental hazards associated with the glass-making factories in Murano. Not that these aren't important issues, but a bit of a balance between the environmental theme and the mystery would have been nice.

[Anna · Rating 2 out of 5]

I still can't decide if I like the Brunetti series, after reading about half of them.
They are pretty constant in style and quality, and all of them have the same good points (interesting location, interesting and usually not pleasant characters) and less than good points (the intense hatred of everyone Sicilian or Sardinian, in every single book, every single time Brunetti talks to his rather racistically, by a northern Italian's eyes, boss, Patta, and every time there is ever anyone from Sicily or Sardinia anywhere in the book. The slow pace of the books I can forgive, but this racism annoys me in each Brunetti so much that I swear I won't touch them again).

If you like Henning Mankell's Kurt Wallander series, or Håkan Nesser's Van Veeteren, you might like this series - or vice versa for what goes for recommendations. The detective heroes are similar (dedicated, justice seeking, rather boring family life, not the loose cannon detective type where Harry Hole or Bosch would fit, and often much more time spent at lunch and dinner table than actually detecting).

There was a body in the book, and that made it a mystery apparently. A dead man is found in a glass factory in Venice. Add environmental crime, and rich obnoxious people. Make it kind of a thriller but without the thrill. There was a little oops too - the wife of the deceased was called Sonia, and at some point she gave birth to twins. But then they keep a Sara at the hospital. (Which Sara? Not either of the kids, and not obviously the mother in law either) The nonsensical title made me curious too - as there are apparently a bunch of other books with this same, rather odd title. Through a glass, darkly (I googled) is a biblical reference, 1 Cor 13:12.

[Jeanette · Rating 3 out of 5]

Once again this crime is insidious rather than a murder. It's centered upon Murano, and the glass blowing venues, the different furnaces. And some politics too, because the President of the Glass Blowers Assoc. is trying to make a play and plan to escalate his power and celebrity to run for Mayor of the Veneto.

The first half was far more fun than the second half. The last quarter was all about sludge and other secondary products of cast off nature from the glass blowing process of heat and chemical usage.

Patta gets a comeuppance by backing the wrong sycophant. But other than Chiara showing some smarts, it wasn't the most interesting Brunetti. It is spring and the flower descriptions were nice. And I did enjoy that seafood lunch by the Murano sites with Navarro.

But I was rather disappointed as well. I never learned the winner of Elettra's lottery for the guessed date of Patta's rejection letter. Yet she gave copy to various Paola/ Guido missed timing for conversation connection during their leisure.

And I have to add at the end of this reaction that there was quiet a load of pompous elitism in the multitudes of conversations in this book. And not only about pollution. Especially coming from people who don't need to drive- have every access to nearly everything at hand (food and art beyond mentioning), do not grow their own food and have decent weather in comparison to vast areas of the Earth. With Leon, it is usually venting upon religion. Not this time, she takes another soap box to preach upon. For the length of any plot or intrigue here, it was a big negative.

[Eric_W · Rating 4 out of 5]

Donna Leon is a marvel. She has created a cast of appealing characters that deliver intelligent solutions to mysteries. You won't get a lot of shoot-em-ups or car chases or flying off cliffs and surviving thousand foot falls. What you will have is well-written, realistic dialogue, and an examination of Italian, or at least Venetian, culture.

The focus in this story begins with Brunetti helping the friend of a colleague who has been arrested at an ecology demonstration protesting workers' exposure at glass factories to harmful chemicals. That morphs into death threats from the owner of a factory and blame one of the workers assigns to those chemicals for the mental disability of his children. We all know a murder is on the horizon and it soon arrives for Brunetti to solve.

All her stories are told through Brunetti's eyes so we get a view of Venetian sprintime, the art of glass-making, as well as his wonderful relationship with Paula and the comic antics of Signorina Elletra as she and Brunetti suffer the foolishness of their superior Vice-Questore Patta, not to mention the food, culture and ambiance of Venice. 

Excellent if not the outcome Brunetti would have wished.

 

[LJ · Rating 3 out of 5]

THROUGH A GLASS DARKLY (Police Procedural-Venice, Italy-Cont) – G+
Leon, Donna – 15th in series
William Heinemann, 2006- UK Hardcover
Commissario Guido Brunetti helps Inspectore Vianello’s friend, Marco, who has been arrested for protesting against chemical pollution of the Venetian lagoon. Marco is released for lack of evidence, much to the rage of his father-in-law, the owner of a glass factory on Murano. Marco’s wife tells Brunetti she is concerned her father may harm her husband. Whie Brunetti is trying to learn whether her fear has foundation, a man is found dead in front of one of the furnaces, and has left clues implicating the glass companies in illegal chemical dumping.
*** I love the character of Brunetti, his relationship with his co-workers and family and his love of his city. Leon does an excellent job of making the reader part of the environment. However, this was not the strongest book in the series. It seemed to get off to a very slow start and took awhile before I really felt involved. This is such a good series and every author is allowed a slightly off book. It certainly won’t prevent me from continuing the series.

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as tightly plotted as most of her others. Brunetti becomes obsessed with looking into the Murano glass factory of a choleric, miserly old man, motivated by the nasty way the man treats his daughter and son-in-law...but this only gets the plot going. From there, it rambles...there is a nice twist at the end...enjoyable but not gripping, this one.

[Ann McReynolds · Rating 5 out of 5]

All of Donna Leon’s series featuring the Venetian detective, Guido Brunetti, are superb, but this is one of my favorites due to the reporting of the workings of Murano glassblowers, a skill and art carried down since the Middle Ages.Coupling that dramatic story with the sad obsession of parents whose infant is born brain damaged makes this the strongest of Leon’s books.

[Claire · Rating 5 out of 5]

Even more entertaining than usual. Some now stock scenes: conflict with Patta, sending Electa to hack to get information, and different opinions about pollution. Yet the details are unique enough that the stock moments don’t matter.

I am interested enough in the process of glass making that I didn’t mind the ling descriptions. Other readers might feel differently.