Death and Judgment (Commissario Guido Brunetti Mysteries) [Mass Market Paperback]

Donna Leon (Author)

Book Description

Series: Commissario Guido Brunetti Mysteries | Publication Date: September 26, 2006

With more than 500,000 copies of her books in print in the United States, Donna Leon continues to find new fans for her riveting Commissario Guido Brunetti mysteries. In Death and Judgment, a truck crashes and spills its dangerous cargo on a treacherous road in the Italian Dolomite mountains. Meanwhile, in Santa Lucia, a prominent international lawyer is found dead aboard an intercity train. Suspecting a connection between the two tragedies, Brunetti digs deep for an answer, stumbling upon a seedy Venetian bar that holds the key to a crime network that reaches far beyond the laguna. But it will take another violent death in Venice before Brunetti and his colleagues begin to understand what is really going on.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The heady atmosphere of Venice and a galaxy of fully realized characters enrich this intriguing and finally horrifying tale, the fourth featuring Guido Brunetti, the stalwart and worldly Commissioner of Police in Venice. Shortly after the bodies of eight women are found near a truck that has been in a mountainside accident, Brunetti begins to investigate the shooting death of attorney Carlo Trevisan, counselor to influential industrialists and bankers. Two days later an accountant for politically active manufacturers is found murdered in his car. Both men, Brunetti discovers, had been placing calls to Eastern Europe, Ecuador and Thailand from a pay phone in a disreputable bar in Padua. Probing for more information, Brunetti relies on unique sources: his boss's secretary, who is particularly adept at using computers; a judge who owes him a favor; even his sergeant's wife, who raises gossip to an art form. Brunetti's wife, a professor of English, and his teenaged daughter offer invaluable aid. With consummate skill, Leon (Dressed for Death) gradually reveals the broad reaches of a corrupt network linking the privileged and powerful.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Leon's Italian cop, Guido Brunetti, is a complex man who loves his family and his work despite his jaded outlook. His multifaceted personality combines a humorously lugubrious melancholy, a rapier-sharp wit, a gentle heart, and a keen mind, which makes him not only a fine detective, but also an engaging hero. In her fourth story in the series, Leon presents Brunetti with his most difficult and politically sensitive case to date. High-powered lawyer Carlo Trevisan is found shot to death on the Padua^-Venice train. The police write it off as a robbery gone bad, but Brunetti isn't so sure. When an accountant who worked for Trevisan is found dead a short time later, Brunetti sees a connection, which eventually leads him to an international drug and prostitution ring run by some of Venice's most influential citizens. Leon isn't well known is this country, but she should be. She's a superbly gifted writer whose stories are complex and filled with charm, humor, and intelligence. Do readers a favor and put her books on the shelf. Emily Melton --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Mass Market Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Books (September 26, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0143035827
• ISBN-13: 978-0143035824
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #332,565 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

33 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Sometimes the underworld is so ugly..., February 27, 2001

By 

R. Peterson "International citizen" (Leverett, MA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Death and Judgment (Hardcover)

The fourth in a five book series (oh, that Donna Leon would keep writing these....), Death and Judgment brings us back to our dear detective, Guido Brunetti and his family, and his work in Venice. I will steal from a reviewer who suggested that Leon writes three novels in one: about murder, about Venice, and about relationships, because it is true and it is just this that brings us back again and again to see what Brunetti is up against this time. An important lawyer is found dead on the train from Padua to Venice (and of course, Brunetti's supervisor, Patti urges him to consider this a simple robbery "gone bad"). At about the same time a large truck slides off an ice-y mountain road in Northern Italy and the dead bodies of a number of young women are discovered in the back (crushed by the load of lumber in the truck). Then when the dead lawyer's accountant is also found murdered, Brunetti slowly begins to find the connections and uncovers a horrible web of international prostitution and a pornographic film industry built by some truly evil but highly influential and powerful Venetian citizens. As Leon always involves us with Guido's family, especially his dear wife (and local English professor) and children, this novel is no different and Guido's precocious daughter actually helps him solve this case, which has a typically complex yet logical conclusion.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Highly recommended, January 11, 2007

By 

L. J. Roberts (Oakland, CA, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Death and Judgment (Commissario Guido Brunetti Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

Commissario Guido Brunetti's newest case is the murder of a prominent international lawyer. As he investigates, a link is found between this murder and the murder of an accountant being investigated by a colleague in Padua. These two threads tie back to an winter accident with a truck going off an icy road resulting in the death of several woman without identification.

This is a very well written story of corruption, power and greed. Brunetti is a wonderfully refreshing character; a loyal husband, caring father and respected policeman who loves his city. The humor, relationships and emotions, however, are realistic and not saccharine. The secondary characters are dimensional and interesting. Leon is a wonderful writer who brings Venice to life but doesn't spare on its problems. Although I thought I knew where the story was going, I found myself surprised and the ending depressingly realistic. For those of us who read for character but like good plots as well, I highly recommend this book and series.

16 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Perceptive characterisations - excellent unfolding of plot, October 10, 1997

By 

S. Henley "Reader" (Melbourne, Australia) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Death and Judgment (Mass Market Paperback)

Donna Leon is a quietly perceptive and at times a forgivingly cynical narrator of human foibles and relationships under the stress of daily life, politics, bureaucracy and crime.This novel once again brings Commissario Guido Brunetti's empathetic pragmatism and integrity into conflict with the entrenched egocentricity and greed of Venice's and Italy's ruling classes. This is a piece of literature, not just a wonderful novel of crime and detection. Leon manages to make us question our assumptions about everything from political apathy and corruption, to what is honour, and how we live out our values. What a gift this woman must be to her students. Highly recommended for a desert island collection, as well as being a great primer for visitors to Venice. Not to mention being a damn good read.