About Face (Thorndike Mystery) [Large Print] [Hardcover]

Donna Leon (Author)

Book Description

Series: Thorndike Mystery | Publication Date: August 2009

At a dinner party given by his parents-in-law, Commissario Brunetti meets Franca Marinello, the wife of a prosperous Venetian businessman. He's charmed - perhaps too charmed, suggests his wife Paola - by her love of Virgil and Cicero, but shocked by her appearance. A few days later, Brunetti is visited by Carabinieri Maggior Filippo Guarino from the nearby city of Marghera. As part of a wider investigation into Mafia takeovers of businesses in the region, Guarino wants information about the owner of a trucking company who was found murdered in his office. He believes the man's death is connected to the illegal transportation of refuse - and more sinister material - in his company's trucks. No stranger to mutual suspicion and competition between rival Italian police departments, Brunetti is nevertheless puzzled by the younger man's paranoid behaviour. Eventually Guarino agrees to email a photo of his suspect, but by the time the photograph arrives, he himself is dead. Was he killed because he got too close? And why is it that Franca Marinello has often been seen in company of the suspect, a vulgar man with Mafia connections and a violent past? Donna Leon's new novel is as subtle, gripping and topical as ever, bringing the sights, sounds and smells of Venice flooding to life.

--This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

[a] brilliant series. Seven, 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 ... 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. Waterstones 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 --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

About the Author

Donna Leon has lived in Venice for many years and previously lived in Switzerland, Saudi Arabia, Iran and China, where she worked as a teacher. Her previous novels featuring Commissario Brunetti have all been highly acclaimed; including Friends in High Places, which won the CWA Macallan Silver Dagger for Fiction, Through A Glass, Darkly, Suffer the Little Children, and most recently, The Girl of His Dreams. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 427 pages
• Publisher: Thorndike Press; Lrg edition (August 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1410417158
• ISBN-13: 978-1410417152
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,111,460 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

A New Yorker of Irish/Spanish descent, Donna Leon first went to Italy in 1965, returning regularly over the next decade or so while pursuing a career as an academic in the States and then later in Iran, China and finally Saudi Arabia. Leon has received both the CWA Macallon Silver Dagger for Fiction and the German Corrine Prize for her novels featuring Commisario Guido Brunetti. She lives in Venice.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining, but not as good as other Brunetti stories, December 29, 2009

By 

A Customer - See all my reviews

This review is from: About Face (Kindle Edition)

If you enjoy reading Donna Leon's stories about the amiable Commissario Brunetti and his family and soaking into Venice's atmosphere I guess you'd have fun. However, I found the story too unrealistic and less intriguing than older novels.

5.0 out of 5 stars Change of Face, January 20, 2012

By 

Abe F. March "To Beirut and Back, They Plotte... (Germany) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: About Face (Kindle Edition)

The author's Venice sleuth, Brunetti, gives the reader a character to admire. Following clues takes the reader down a winding road with ultimate success.