Acqua Alta [Bargain Price] [Paperback]

Donna Leon (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 27, 2009

Venice detective Guido Brunetti swings into action when the curator of Venice's most prestigious museum turns up dead, bludgeoned by a priceless artifact, and American archaelogist Brett Lynch, a close friend, narrowly escapes the killer. 10,000 first printing.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

An American living near Venice, Donna Leon has crafted an imaginative series of mysteries set in the waterborne city, all starring police detective Guido Brunetti. In this, the fifth installment, Brunetti sets out to investigate an assault on an American archeologist who herself is investigating a museum exhibition of Chinese antiquities. The moods of Venice and the reflections of the canny, emotional detective are the most affecting qualities of the book. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Intelligent and charming Guido Brunetti, the commissioner of police in Venice (seen before in Death at La Fenice and Death in a Strange Country), continues to confront corruption in his fifth adventure. His moral anger pervades and gives substance to this mystery, from its peripheral incidents to the resolution, in which the villain explains all and which occurs in the rising waters of the title. Investigating an assault on American archeologist Brett Lynch, Brunetti wonders whether the two men who beat her are simply homophobic (Lynch's lover is a popular soprano) or, as Lynch suggests, whether they were trying to prevent her planned meeting with museum director Francesco Semenzato. Five years earlier, Lynch and Semenzato brought a touring display of Chinese antiquities to Venice. Recently, Lynch, on a dig in China, saw the same pieces and realized some had been replaced by fakes. Brunetti's sources suggest that Semenzato's interests in antiques are more diverse than is proper for a powerful museum director, but there's no opportunity for a confrontation: only four days after the beating, Semenzato is murdered. As Brunetti wends his way around the insider's Venice and through accumulating information (not all obtained entirely honestly), he also deals with his superiors, his wife and teenage daughter, all the while remaining the thoughtful, sensitive sleuth readers have come to expect.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics); First Edition. 1 in number line edition (January 27, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0143115901
• ASIN: B002HREKY6
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (40 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,735,578 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

31 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Donna Leon fans should rush to Amazon.co.uk!, July 3, 1999

By 

Susan K. Hughes "wordwright" (San Antonio, TX USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Acqua Alta (Hardcover)

"Aqua Alta" is another splendid, can't-put-it-down engagement with Guido Brunetti. I despaired of reading any more of Donna Leon's fine prose and carefully crafted plots when notified last year that publication had been cancelled of a forthcoming book. Led by a note in another review, I checked out Amazon.co.uk, where I found "Death of Faith," "A Noble Radiance," and the book I just finished, "Fatal Remedies." Each is as good or better than its predecessor. I remain a dedicated fan. (Be aware, "The Anonymous Venetian" was published in the US with the title "Dressed for Death.") Also, some of Leon's works that are out-of-print in the US are available in the UK.

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another winner by Donna Leon, November 11, 2004

By 

Kaye Barlow (Vancouver Island, Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Acqua Alta (Paperback)

I recently discovered this mystery writer and am backtracking to read all her books. She never fails to deliver a wonderful read. Her picture of Venice and its society and politics is piercingly honest and although she shows all that society's warts and corruption, there is a sense of objectivity and compassion in her telling and in her police commissario, Guido Brunetti. Brunetti is a full, well-realized character and his family gives him even more depth. Contrary to many mysteries, where all the loose ends are tied up and justice is served. Her stories often end with ambiguity and not necessarily with the bad guys getting their just rewards.

As an aside, his relationship and dealings with his superior, Patta, is worth the price of admission and give an even stronger, quite humorous picture of his control and tolerance.

Acqua Alta, the title, refers to the seasonal torrential rains of Venice and provides a backdrop to a tale of art, thefts and violence.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Acquisition Fever, January 14, 2005

By 

Pamela - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Acqua Alta (Paperback)

I bought this after reading "Doctored Evidence," Donna Leon's latest book. I think beatings and violence in mysteries are overused and boring so I'm subtracting one star, but I enjoyed the atmospheric descriptions of Venice and am a fan of mysteries about the art world or Italy (so I also recommend Iain Pears' "art history-mystery" books). This novel portrays acquisition lust at its ugliest. I have added four more Donna Leon books to my amazon.com shopping cart.