Dressed for Death (Commissario Guido Brunetti Mysteries) [Paperback]

Donna Leon (Author)

Book Description

Series: Commissario Guido Brunetti Mysteries | Publication Date: October 4, 2005

Donna Leon’s Commissario Guido Brunetti series grows more popular in America with the publication of every new novel. In this installment, Brunetti’s hopes of a refreshing family holiday in the mountains are once again dashed when a gruesome discovery is made in Marghera—a body so badly beaten the face is completely unrecognizable. Brunetti searches Venice for someone who can identify the corpse, but he is met with a wall of silence. Then he receives a telephone call from a contact who promises some tantalizing information. And before the night is out, Brunetti is confronting yet another appalling, and apparently senseless, death.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Donna Leon has received both the CWA Macallan Silver Dagger for Fiction and the German Corinne Prize for her novels featuring Commissario Guido Brunetti.

From AudioFile

This is your basic police procedural set in Venice. It features a likeable, methodical detective, Guido Brunetti, who sacrifices his vacation in the mountains to track down a scam and the murderer of a banker disguised as a transvestite. Anna Fields reads the story in a hard-edged, gravelly voice, which fits the plot even if it doesn't please the ear. Donna Leon writes like a female Ed McBain, only the detectives cruise canals and not the mean streets of New York. This is an often slow-paced story, but the plot is plausible and well-conceived. Most listeners will stay with it. D.L.G. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics); later printing edition (October 4, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0143035843
• ISBN-13: 978-0143035848
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #121,936 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

95 of 100 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Same as The Anoymous Venetian!!, October 22, 2005

By 

Karen Davis (Maryland, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dressed for Death (Commissario Guido Brunetti Mysteries) (Paperback)

This is, as are all of Donna Leon's novels, excellent. However - it is the SAME book as "The Anonymous Venetian", so beware, those who are completing their Brunetti collection.

I hate the way American publishers slap new titles on British books.

34 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Hot August Nights in Venice, November 17, 2005

By 

Elfinstone (San Francisco) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Dressed for Death (Commissario Guido Brunetti Mysteries) (Paperback)

This book seemed a little more leisurely than most, even though it takes place over a week or so. It's the hottest week of the year and all sensible Venetians have headed for the hills including Brunetti's family. He has to stay behind to solve a transvestite murder in the neighboring city of Mestre. As usual, Brunetti is intuitive and humane and clever enough to manipulate his idiot boss Patta. This book marks the first appearance of the remarkable Signorina Eletra, the Questura secretary who is skilled at computer research and has an amazing ability to ferret out the most secret information. I am a Donna Leon fan and have read all the books I can get my hands on (about 6, I think). This is one of my favorites. Leon evokes the stiffling August Venetian weather and its effect on the inhabitants as she takes us into the gay underworld. I believe Leon has written 13 Brunetti novels. I wish they'd publish them all here in the U.S. I always want more.

19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What sexual gratification would a person get from wearing clothing of the opposite sex? Brunetti's fetish thoughts answered., July 6, 2006

By 

Andrea Bowhill (England) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dressed for Death (Commissario Guido Brunetti Mysteries) (Paperback)

A word used in our human circles to describe a crossdresser would be transvestite (Italian: travestito) meaning someone who dresses in the clothes usually worn by the opposite sex. Transvestites may be bisexual, heterosexual or homosexual; Transvestite comes from the Latin word travesty.

Commissario Brunetti investigate the death of what is first to be thought a female worker or prostitute left under a clump of bushes near an Industrial site. The body had been found by a couple of factory workers on their break, all they could really see at the time was her silk red shoes on shapely ankles sticking out of the grass at the end. One of the men approached the women wondering if it was worth stealing the shoes realizing the body was motionless thought better of it and called the police. Twenty minuets later Brunetti and men manage a closer inspection he realizes the female was actually male, full make up wearing his/her very best wig, bright beautiful dress with laced undergarments and striking shoes.

When two more bodies turn up connected to the case Brunetti has to act fast, everybody around seems to be acting like a pack of hyenas (also ambiguous for their gender bend) Brunetti is facing the task of digging deeper into the mind of the crossdresser, which currently is filled to the brim with deception and misconception.

Once again Leon deals with the task at hand with ease, covering many topics, Corruption of government, the sex trade and drugs. The fictional characters are beautifully woven in, a comic team of testosterone police trying to prove what it takes to be real men, right up to my favorite the wonderful Sicilian Vice-Questore Giuseppe Patta (Brunetti Boss) whose wife has called his bluff at last and left him, committing the ultimate unforgivable act of seriousness' denting his incredibly ego, the most important thing on his mind now is how to restore his image.

Brunetti eyes are opened up to the seedier side of Venice once again, Left Occupied in thoughts dealing with the matter alone.

Leon pulls out all stops for a fun loving fantastic read in this series. This book is also under the title The Anonymous Venetian.