Donna Leon
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| Donna Leon | |
|---|---|
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| Nationality | American |
| Genres | Crime fiction |
Donna Leon (born September 29, 1942) 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 twenty years. She has worked as a lecturer in English Literature for the University of Maryland University College - Europe (UMUC-Europe) in Italy and then as a Professor and a writer. Some years ago, Donna Leon stopped teaching and has concentrated on writing and other cultural activities in the field of music (especially Baroque music).
Her crime novels are all situated in or near Venice. They are written in English and translated into many foreign languages, although not Italian. Friends in High Places won the Crime Writers' Association Silver Dagger in 2000.
[edit] Setting
The melancholic police commissioner Guido Brunetti confronts crime in and around his home town of Venice. Each case is an opportunity for the author to reveal another aspect of the seamy underside of society. The fact that Brunetti can only go so far in attacking the endemic corruption of the system leaves him deeply cynical, although it does not prevent him from trying again and again. Brunetti finds solace in the company of his wife, Paola, a hereditary contessa born to one of Venice's oldest families, as well as their growing children, Raffi and Chiara. Paola teaches literature in the public system and, despite her background, is very much to the left, still fueled by the spirit of 1968. The domestic warmth of the Brunetti family contrasts with corruption and cruelty that Brunetti encounters at work. Venice's head of police, Vice-questore Patta, serves as the vain and self-serving buffo, while Sergente Vianello and the all-knowing and well-connected Signorina Elettra, Patta's secretary, assist Brunetti on the ground and through research.
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[edit] List of Brunetti novels
- Death at La Fenice (1992)
- Death in a Strange Country (1993)
- The Anonymous Venetian (1994) aka Dressed for Death
- A Venetian Reckoning (1995) aka Death and Judgment
- Acqua Alta (1996) aka Death in High Water
- The Death of Faith (1997) aka Quietly in Their Sleep
- A Noble Radiance (1997)
- Fatal Remedies (1999)
- Friends in High Places (2000)
- A Sea of Troubles (2001)
- Wilful Behaviour (2002)
- Uniform Justice (2003)
- Doctored Evidence (2004)
- Blood from a Stone (2005)
- Through a Glass Darkly (2006)
- Suffer the Little Children (2007)
- The Girl of His Dreams (2008)
- About Face (2009)
[edit] External links
- [1] The Official UK Donna Leon website - www.donnaleon.co.uk
- Interview with Donna Leon at italian-mysteries.com
