REVIEWS

Praise for About Face

‘[a] brilliant series.’ Sunday Telegraph

‘Super sleuth Brunetti again patrols Venice’s dark canal ways in this Italian crimefest. Once again, Brunetti proves he’s more than a match for the local mob’ , Mirror

‘The very first sentences of About Face showcase Donna Leon’s elegant, effortless style….another great Brunetti outing. [Leon] combines the minutiae of daily life in Venice with pitch-perfect descriptions of police procedure, the now-familiar rhythms of Brunetti’s home life with a ferocious knowledge of literature, delivered – how else? – with a sure, yet light, touch…The details of home-cooked meals and family arguments, alongside a never-ending flow of crime, add depth to Leon’s stories and are what makes her characters so believable and, in turn, her books so readable.’ Independent

‘A thoroughly enjoyable and atmospheric read.’ Waterstone’s Books Quarterly

‘The Brunetti series is dependably enjoyable…There are fine scenes of sustained dialogue, notably an exchange between Brunetti and the Count, his father-in-law, over a pair of portraits, that deserves to be called Jamesian’ TLS

Praise for The Girl of His Dreams

‘In The Girl of His Dreams, Donna Leon is writing at her fluent best.’ Independent

‘Written in a powerful, economical style…Leon’s 17th novel is one of her darkest and most reflective.’ , Guardian

‘Another intriguing episode in this fine series’ Sunday Telegraph

‘The Girl of his Dreams is an artful examination of family ties as well as a clear-eyed survey of the pros and cons of political correctness’ Evening Standard

‘The seventeenth title in an excellent, unflagging series…The Girl of His Dreams marks an evolution, even a quiet revolution, in Leon’s storytelling.’ TLS

‘Donna Leon has a talent for scene-setting and plot-twisting which has hooked in millions of fans, and if you’ve never sampled their wares, there couldn’t be a better place to start than this’ Sunday Telegraph

Praise for Suffer the Little Children

‘Donna Leon is keeping up an astonishingly high standard. In Suffer the Little Children she achieves a perfect blend of characters, place, mystery and social issues… Leon handles a sensitive, emotional subject with compassion…she portrays Venice as a living, flawed city, not a smug tourist trap. Her 16th Brunetti novel is also one of her best..’ Marcel Berlins, The Times

‘Leon tackles this difficult issue sensitively, without stinting on mouth-watering descriptions of Venice.’ Telegraph

‘Leon started out with offhand, elegant excellence, and has simply kept it up.’ Guardian

‘Summarizing Leon’s plot, like telling the story of an opera, cannot do justice to the subtlety, drama and arrative skill that keep us turning the pages, wondering until the end how she will manage to tie up so many loose ends…[and] Leon’s fans who use Brunetti as an insider’s guide to Venice will not be disappointed.’ TLS

Praise for Through A Glass, Darkly

‘Leon’s Venice-set crime series ... have depth and a wonderful sense of place ... Leon’s Venice has hidden menace.’ Bournemouth Daily Echo

‘Leon brings her masterful grasp of nuance to bear on regional Italy’s thoroughly ingrained corruption, as well as toxic waste issues and Brunetti’s familial relationships. As Brunetti muses on crime, humanity and Dante’s Inferno and enjoys several deliciously described Italian meals, the city’s famous glass-making industry and daily life in the Venetian backstreets come gently to life.’ Time Out

‘Spring comes to Venice in Donna Leon’s 15th procedural mystery, promising renewed life to a city that has always been more in love with death. By adopting this mixed message as the theme of her story, Leon once again shows her sensitivity to the eternal tug that defines the Venetian character.’ New York Times

‘Venetian life, and Brunetti’s model marriage, are as entertaining as the working out of the whodunit. A joy from start to finish.’ Evening Standard

‘Donna Leon ... She’s more than staked her claim to being one of Venice’s greatest contemporary chroniclers ... The smells, flavours, sights and sounds all come flooding to life. Even though the first crime doesn’t happen until well over halfway through, this doesn’t dampen its page-turning appeal. Leon builds her plot meticulously ... Once again, Leon has her finger on the pulse.’ Henry Sutton, Daily Mirror

‘Donna Leon wraps her passion for Venice around some clever mysteries solved by her thoughtful detective - its an appealing package.’ Choice

‘For a good thriller, look no further than Donna Leon’s latest dispatch from Venice’ Red

‘A cracking murder mystery.’ Marcel Berlins, The Times

‘Leon is good at portraying the social tensions, the rivalry between and even the resentments of say, the people of Murano and those who live in other districts ... the star of the book though, is , as usual, the slightly seedy magnificence of Venice and all its complexities.’ Spectator

‘Operatic brilliance ... Donna Leon appears to have the knack of keeping her Venice-set Brunetti books as fresh as paint. Through A Glass, Darkly, like all her work, has the exuberance of a Puccini opera...One can’t help wondering f the rage at the Italian dumping of toxic waste is a metaphor for the author’s own irritation with her native United States, an eco-polluter on the scale that makes Signor Berlusconi’s similar abuses seem like small beer.’ Independent

‘Her always assured Commissario Brunetti novels ... Admirers of these books need no recommendation: they have been amazingly consistent in their development over the years ... 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.’ Independent on Sunday

‘The vibrant characters and descriptions of Venice provide the momentum. Clever
and engaging.’ Eve

‘Part of the pleasure in reading Donna Leon’s books is wandering around Venice in the company of her engaging sleuth, Commissario Brunetti ... Italy’s social and political problems continue to play a significant part, giving a depth to the novels. Without graphic violence or elaborate mystery, she has once again, apparently effortlessly, produced a wholly absorbing read.’ Sunday Telegraph

Praise for Blood From a Stone

‘A good summer read of intrigue in the glass industry on the island of Murano in Venice’ Irish Times
‘Donna Leon ... She’s more than staked her claim to being one of Venice’s greatest contemporary chroniclers ... The smells, flavours, sights and sounds all come flooding to life. Even though the first crime doesn’t happen until well over halfway through, but this doesn’t dampen its page-turning appeal. Leon builds her plot meticulously ... Once again, Leon has her finger on the pulse.’ Henry Sutton, Daily Mirror ’Buy It’

‘Donna Leon wraps her passion for Venice around some clever mysteries solved by her thoughtful detective - its an appealing package.’ Choice
‘For a good thriller, look no further than Donna Leon’s latest dispatch from Venice’ Red 

‘A cracking murder mystery.’   Marcel Berlins, The Times

‘Leon is good at portraying the social tensions, the rivalry between and even the resentments of say, the people of Murano and those who live in other districts ... the star of the book though, is , as usual, the slightly seedy magnificence of Venice and all its complexities.’ Spectator

‘Open on modern Italy that challenges some of its best protected institutions and exposes their flaws.’ Saga

‘Donna Leon has a wonderful feel for the hidden evils that lie below the façade of the magical city, and Brunetti, sturdy family man and cynic, is an endearing guide into the machinations of Italian society.’ The Times

‘In Blood from a Stone, Donna Leon’s 14th Commissario Brunetti novel, the thoughtful and charming detective is on top form ... The novels real appeal ... lies in the small print of Brunetti’s life ... His nicely balanced world ... is cumulatively engrossing. In this domestic detail, Leon roots the power of the ordinary, moral individual.’ Sunday Times

‘Blood from a Stone is the latest in the long line of Donna Leon’s very successful Comissario Brunetti novels, set in Venice ... It would be simply perverse not to \acknowledge the skill with which Leon has assembled these familiar elements... The reader comes to look forward to Paola’s elegant Venetian lunches as much as Brunetti does...The plot of Blood From A Stone both stands up to and complements the cast ... Comfort reading of the highest order.’ TLS

‘As usual, the real star of the book is Venice, vividly depicted in the rain, and Leon’s dissection of the intrigue and corruption in Italian politics, partly through Brunetti’s conversations with his wife, makes absorbing reading with a typically cynical conclusion.’ Susanna Yager, Sunday Telegraph

‘The pulse of Venice beats on the pages as he prowls the city’s subculture to solve this mystery.’ Woman and Home

‘A clever title for a clever tale ... You can smell the canals as well as the cannelloni.’ Evening Standard

‘The fabulous Donna Leon’ Antonia Fraser in the Spectator

Praise for Death at La Fenice

‘Another Leon success, but watch out for her intelligent and well-placed red herrings: you’re sure to fall for several of them.’
Good Book Guide

Praise for Doctored Evidence

‘Full of intrigue and political wrangling, with some fascinating insights into the Italian way of life’ Waterstone’s staff choice, The Leeds Guide

‘Brunetti is a complex figure, able to see light and shade in both cases and people.’ Sunday Times

‘Like Michael Dibdin’s Aurelio Zen, Leon’s Brunetti is a complex figure, able to see light and shade both in cases and in people’ Sunday Times (Culture)

‘Well worth buying, reading, lending to friends ... An enjoyable journey, and Donna Leon reminds us of what some crime novelists forget - the pettiness of the reasons why people commit murder.’ The Oldie
 
‘An enthralling tale of duplicity and murder ... A cracking good read.’ Dundee Evening Telegraph

‘Leon’s new novel unites the elements of a classic thriller - murder, intrigue, and a plot that twists and turns all the way through the canals of Venice to the finale ... Leon combines an easy reading style with an invigorating narrative to keep readers enthralled.’ Good Book Guide

‘How can Commissario Brunetti fail to engage our attention when every step he takes is in one of the most beautiful and intriguing cities in the world? But there’s a lot more to the novels than that, and the virtues of Leon’s writing are all on display in her latest, Doctored Evidence ... In a literary genre full of sudden shocks and sensations, Donna Leon’s books are welcome oases of stillness ... Always dignified by prose of understated elegance. Leon also has a wonderful feeling for the social complexities of Venice, where corruption is as old and deep and treacherous as the canals... Like all the best detective fiction, Doctored Evidence not only solves a mystery, but also anatomises the setting in which the crime occurred.’ Daily Mail

‘Leon’s talent for sketching Venice with equal measures of affection and exasperation is undimmed, and Brunetti and his serious, thoughtful wife Paola remain subtle and pleasing creations.’ Sunday Times

’Elegant, unflashy fiction, serious without being drab, sharply intelligent and reassuring in its insistence that integrity is what really matters.’ Literary Review

‘Leon’s intricate plot will keep you guessing until the final page.’ Red

‘Unlike many crime novels, in which scenes of the detective’s home life are often irrelevant and hold up the action, Brunetti’s conversations with his perceptive wife illuminate the story and contribute to an informative view of Italian society in this enjoyable addition to a fine series.’ Sunday Telegraph

Praise forUniform Justice

‘Classic, classy detective fiction with its unique Venetian setting and a humane and down-to-earth protagonist.’ Manchester Evening News

‘Once again, that wonderful Italian sleuth, Commissario Guido Brunetti, is back on the tortuous Venice beat ... Wonderfully familiar characters, a powerful sense of place and expert plotting make this 12th appearance of the down-to-earth Brunetti ... a page turner with much psychological depth and disturbing, quiet power.’ Crime Time

‘Donna Leon ... novels ... have become more subtle and gradually more dark.’ Evening Standard

‘There is the joy of contemplating Venice: the veiled and ancient heroine, with a sad haunted beauty slipping away year by year. Read it in the dusk, with a grappa.’ Libby Purves in the Good Book Guide

‘Brunetti ... long ago joined the ranks of the classic fictional detectives.’ Evening Standard

‘Leon’s impeccable cop, Commissario Guido Brunetti, fighting corruption and city hall ... Deeply sympathetic portrait of a truth-seeker at war with monied time-servers, with Brunetti’s reflections ... giving point and poignancy to the conflict.’ Literary Review

‘Complex and thought-provoking and lingers in the mind.’ Sunday Times

‘Wonderfully familiar characters, a powerful sense of place and expert plotting ... A page-turner with real psychological depth and a disturbing, quiet power.’ Guardian

Praise for Wilfull Behavior

‘Miss Leon knows her Venice and handles it with chilling atmosphere. She does not cheat with the plot ... but this more than a whodunit.’ Country Life

‘Wilful Behaviour has the same decency and humanity as all Donna Leon’s novels’ The Oldie

‘Not a trace of the repetition or autopilot plotting that seems to kick in on so many long-running series ... Brunetti remains one of the most persuasively characterised protagonists in crime fiction ... Donna Leon’s authoritatively written novels combine machine-tooled plotting with her customarily vivid Italian locations ... Leon’s inexorable skills soon have us gripped as comprehensively as ever’ Good Book Guide

‘A classic example of detective-book murder, it is satisfyingly difficult to resolve ... Leon whips up a brilliant narrative storm’ Sunday Times

‘Donna Leon’s compelling series ... Absorbingly detailed ... What makes Leon’s work especially unnerving is the sense that corruption is a continuing process ... This is a powerful story, brilliantly evoking Venetian atmosphere, and the characters of Brunetti and his family continue to deepen throughout this series.’ The Times

‘Commissario Brunetti and his creator are on good form ...’ Sunday Telegraph

‘Donna Leon’s novels have become successively more subtle, more complex and perhaps more serious, without ever losing their compelling power as narratives. This is especially true of Wilful Behaviour; the story is wholly engrossing, yet at the same time the sub-text, highly relevant to the present, is a grim one’ Evening Standard

‘Venice is the perfect metaphor for the contrasting aspects of Italian life that Donna Leon’s novels so convincingly chronicle ... Donna Leon ... deserves congratulation for creating a fine episode in this superior series’ Sunday Herald

Praise for A Sea of Troubles

‘Leon whips up a brilliant narrative storm ...’ Sunday Times

‘Brunetti is hard to beat ... Leon’s tenth novel featuring Commissario Brunetti more than maintains the standard of its predecessors ... the subplots and underlying themes are very bit as intriguing as the main quest ... The tragic aftermath whets the appetite for Brunetti’s next appearance.’ Times Literary Supplement

‘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. And, as in her latest, she can pull of this dazzling trick in less than 250 pages ... The plot is beautifully constructed. The climax is exciting and disturbing ... Brunetti is as irresistible as ever. I await the next Leon with impatience’ Gerald Kaufman in the Scotsman

‘The atmosphere of the city and the island are portrayed with Ms Leon’s usual skill’ Sunday Telegraph

‘Brunetti is always loveable, and Leon shows us his human failings as well as his great strengths, compassion being one of the foremost. In this she demonstrates yet again how to life the roman policier beyond its genre label and into an emotionally complex, intellectually and morally satisfying narrative’ Scotland on Sunday
 
‘Leon is a gifted writer of contemporary detective fiction. Perhaps because she is not native to the country she writes about, she has developed an eye for detail and an enjoyment of paradox that fleshes out her books, giving their locations as vivid an existence as their characters’ Sunday Times

‘[Brunetti] is a tenacious underdog and his journey through Italian venality and administrative woes is always rewarding’ Guardian

‘Donna Leon goes from strength to strength. Her latest Guido Brunetti novel is clever, vivid and wholly absorbing ... This is her tenth Brunetti novel but it’s as fresh and entertaining as the first ... Dare I say that these days Brunetti is edging out Michael Dibdin’s Aurelio Zen as the most interesting Italian policeman in fiction?’ Observer

‘A splendid addition to the canon ... she will collect new readers with every tale’ Country Life

‘A totally convincing thriller ... a thrillingly dramatic climax ... Her usual tremendously atmospheric read’ Wolverhampton Express and Star

‘With small but significant detail, Leon convinces us that she understands the city as it she was born there ... she allows readers to feel they’ve caught a glimpse of another culture ... Brunetti is a likeable lynchpin for convoluted, satisfying tales of greed and lust’ Sunday Herald

‘Donna Leon’s ingenious plotting, her ability to take you right into backwater Venice, and her appealing Commissario, make her books some of the best in current detective fiction.’ Choice

‘If setting is vital to the crime novel, here it is used to splendid effect in the creation of [a] mesmerising novel, which shows how much life imitates art and how wit and wisdom are as universal as evil’ Express on Sunday

‘One of Donna Leon’s best novels ... the alliances, friendships and in this case love interest give the book a warm glow’ Spectator

‘Behind the naive style is a deceptive sophistication. Let the flavour of the Med, all seafood, grappa, coffee and smouldering passions, wash over you.’ Daily Mirror

Praise for Friends in High Places

‘One of the most agreeable detectives in all crime fiction’ Gerald Kaufman in the Scotsman’s ‘Books for Christmas’

‘Marks a quantum leap forward’ T.J. Binyon in the Evening Standard’s ‘Crime Fiction of the Year’

‘[A] great read’ Prima

‘Leon is a skilful plotter…Brunetti is a nicely shaded creation: a moral man who is also all too human. Friends in High Places is a splendid read, clever and provoking.’ Observer

‘Crime writing of the highest order: powerful, relevant and all too full of human failings’ Guardian

‘To read Donna Leon is to be transported instantly to the sinisterly ravishing backwaters of Venice…a crisply suspenseful and perfectly formed tale of drug-dealing and loan-sharking, against the most beautiful of settings’ Ms London

‘A beguiling picture of daily life in the watery, crooked city of Venice…as usual, I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.’ Libby Purves in the Good Book Guide

‘The beautiful city of Venice is the evocative backdrop to this gripping detective novel’ Women and Home

‘It’s a mark of this elegant and cunning writer that not even the most wonderful city on earth upstages her characters and plots…With her usual skilful plotting and perfectly judged pace, Leon teases out a tangled drama of institutional sleaze, loan-sharking and drug abuse…more than a clever story set in a beautiful city….magic….There is every bit as much raw forensic horror as you’ll find in Cornwell’s books, but with a far greater degree of elegance…Leon’s best so far, and the only complaint is that at 250 pages – longish by her standards – she leaves us wanting more. I’ve always thought I couldn’t love anyone who didn’t love Venice, and I don’t think I could really understand a crime fan who didn’t love Donna Leon’ Scotland on Sunday

‘Another welcome outing for Commissario Brunetti… Leon perfectly captures the arcane bureaucracy of Venice’ Express

‘A common reaction among readers of these novels is to pack their bags and aim for Venice to see those dreaming squares, ride the vaporetti and join the commissario and Paola for lunch…plenty of honest pity and suspense…Leon tells the story as if she loves Venice as much as her detective does, warts and all. The plot and subplots unfold elegantly; beauty and the beast march hand in hand, and the result is rich entertainment.’ Sunday Times

‘All Donna Leon's novels are excellent in their evocation of place, while in Brunetti she has created a character, who, like other fictional detectives, becomes more real in each book... however, Friends in High Places is by far the best, and marks a quantum leap forward’ Evening Standard

‘The city is like another character in them: by turns mysterious and bewitching, then treacherous and faithless, yet always absorbing, always loveable.’ Independent  

‘Such a perfect gem that I have no hesitation in recommending it, not only to lovers of whodunnits, but also to those who enjoy fine writing of any kind’ Nottingham Evening Post

‘She depicts the city and the mores of Italian society with an insider’s mixture of irony and affection that is as captivating as the plot’ Sunday Times