When Commissario Guido Brunetti is visited by a young bureaucrat investigating the lack of official approval for the building of his apartment years earlier, his first reaction, like any other Venetian, is to think of whom he knows who might bring pressure to bear on the relevant government department. But when the bureaucrat rings Brunetti at work, clearly scared, and is then found dead after a fall from scaffolding, something is obviously going on that has implications greater than the fate of Brunetti's apartment ...
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"Leon's best so far ... I don't think I could really understand a crime fan who didn't love Donna Leon" Scotland on Sunday "Leon tells the story as if she loves Venice as much as her detective does, warts and all. The plot and subplots unfold elegantly; beauty and the beast march hand in hand, and the result is rich entertainment." Sunday Times "All Donna Leon's novels are excellent in their evocation of place, while in Brunetti she has created a character who becomes more real in each book ... However, Friends in High Places is by far the best, and marks a quantum leap forward" Evening Standard "Leon is a skilful plotter ... Brunetti is a nicely shaded creation, a moral man who is also all too human. Friends in High Places is a splendid read, clever and provoking" The Observer "Friends in High Places [is an] elegant police procedural set in beautifully imagined Venice" Sunday Times
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
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. It was after a period in Saudi Arabia, which she found ‘damaging physically and spiritually’ that Donna decided to move to Venice, where she has now lived for over twenty years.
Her debut as a crime fiction writer began as a joke: talking in a dressing room in Venice’s opera-house La Fenice after a performance, Donna and a singer friend were vilifying a particular German conductor. From the thought ‘why don’t we kill him?’ and discussion of when, where and how, the idea for Death at La Fenice took shape, and was completed over the next four months.
Donna Leon is the crime reviewer for the London Sunday Times and is an opera expert. She has written the libretto for a comic opera, entitled Dona Gallina. Set in a chicken coop, and making use of existing baroque music, Donna Gallina was premiered in Innsbruck. Brigitte Fassbaender, one of the great mezzo-sopranos of our time, and now head of the Landestheater in Innsbruck, agreed to come out of retirement both to direct the opera and to play the part of the witch Azuneris (whose name combines the names of the two great Verdi villainesses Azucena and Amneris).
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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.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
91 of 99 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Without a doubt, "Friends in High Places" is Donna Leon's best book in her mesmerizing Commissario Brunetti series. "Friends" is the ninth in this outstanding series and Leon has not failed her fans with this latest edition, which, for some unfathomable reason, is not yet published in the States!
The author is able to capture what very few writers in the mystery genre do-- she creates such memorable characters that the reader actually feels he really knows--and even possibly understands--her creations. Certainly, Leon does to Venice what few other writers do to their settings. It is unbelievable that she is able to understand fully the mechanizations of the modern Venetian. She has weaved her plots so intricately--and plausibly--in her series, which seems short of a miracle for some "outsider"--she's an American!--to be able to grasp the bureaucracies of that system, be it religious, political, social, even the illicit "trade" bureaucracies.
With her unforgettable Brunetti and his family, Leon's themes run throughout her novels: among them the "moral path" which is at odds with what Venetians have come to expect and to accept, it seems. If one has a problem, the solution is to utilize his "friends in high places"--a favor for a favor--to solve it. The corruption seems to permeate all aspects of their lives.
But, of course, first, this is a murder mystery, and here, again, Leon is in top form. How exquisitely she leads the reader through this valley of temptation and evil! Yet, despite the impossible task of ever "cleaning up Venice," Brunetti plods on. He alone, it seems at times, knows right from wrong. He takes refuge and solace from his wife Paola; he loves his two children, and his greatest fear is that something evil might harm them.
He senses something is very wrong when a local bureaucrat is found dead; it is labeled an accident, but Brunetti has his suspicions, especially after this bureaucrat had previously contacted him to tell him that he had vital information that he must reveal to him, and to him alone. Before this revelation can occur, he is found dead. Brunetti doesn't believe in coincidences, especially when an attorney who is involved in a corruption investigation is found murdered by a sniper--an attorney whose telephone number Brunetti had found in the bureaucrat's wallet.
From this point on, Leon and Brunetti move cautiously--and sensibly--through this tangled, deceitful web.
The author is quite astute in her observations and realist she is, the endings of her books are not always the "happy ever after" type. Frequently, Brunetti has to con- cede to powers greater than his; he alone cannot stem the flow of corruption--and the Brunetti world, as seen through the series, seems to have no boundaries on corruption, be it from illegal dumping of toxic wastes to the illegal sex trade with local travel companies to the smuggling of drugs from Eastern Europe. Leon leaves no holds barred and the reader is often left to wonder if there really are truly decent folk anymore. Leon does not imply that the corruption is only in Venice, that Pearl of the Adriatic, but leads us to assume that such corruption--especially with today's big bucks, can be anywhere. The average reader knows this all too well, anyway.
For Leon fans, reading this book is not just an inclination, it is a must, naturally;
for new readers, it's also a great read, after reading this one, they will want to go back to the eight previous ones. Indeed, it's a "aventura felice della lettura"! (...)
71 of 83 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Having read all of Helen MacInness and Sherlock Holmes (after midnight) as a grad student I couldn't stand reading anything less and so gave up mysteries for over 35 years. Looking for something to read on the train, I bought my first Donna Leon book (A Noble Radiance) in the station in Stuttgart and have read nine of her novels so far. Commisario Brunetti and his sharp-tongued wife (who, like Leon, accidentally teaches English in Venice) are never boring. So far, I've not guessed the plot before it developed, and the description of Venice and Italian life is fantastic. A wonder that she's not been run out of town tarred and feathered, if not be the city fathers or the patrici, then by The Church. Enjoy, when you need something entertaining and intelligently written, with attention to geographic and cultural detail.
14 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
If you've liked the Guido Brunetti mysteries, you will probably feel that this is one of the best in the series.
What's it all about? Commissario Guido Brunetti meets an honest public official, and crime follows as those who cheat and admire cheaters seek to remain hidden from honest men.
If that's all this book represented, it would be but an average mystery. Ms. Donna Leon adds a more intriguing element to the story: Corrupt practices breed more corruption . . . both of the heart and of the pocket book. To make the story more effective, she places Guido and Paola Brunetti in the middle of temptations that he isn't able to resist.
In Venice, the Ufficio Catasto is in charge of approving building plans and being sure they are faithfully carried out. As in many cities, homeowners try to avoid extra taxes by keeping improvements hidden from the government. Franco Rossi arrives from the Ufficio Catasto to ask Guido if he has the plans for his apartment. Why? The Ufficio Catasto has no record of plans or permits for the apartment.
What does this mean? Guido may have to pay a large fine; he may have to make substantial changes in the apartment; or he may have to demolish the apartment. None of those choices seem attractive. What about using a little influence to avoid the problem? That temptation dangles before the Brunettis throughout the story.
But they are not the only ones who have such challenges -- Vice-Questore Patta also has the need for some help with public matters. Guido finds himself placed in the middle of that moral choice as well.
During the course of the story, Guido also learns about other unpleasant parts of the underbelly of Venice "civilization" that lurks beneath the beautiful exterior that the tourists love to admire.
It's a powerful story that will leave you seeing Venice differently than you have before.
Enjoy!
What's it all about? Commissario Guido Brunetti meets an honest public official, and crime follows as those who cheat and admire cheaters seek to remain hidden from honest men.
If that's all this book represented, it would be but an average mystery. Ms. Donna Leon adds a more intriguing element to the story: Corrupt practices breed more corruption . . . both of the heart and of the pocket book. To make the story more effective, she places Guido and Paola Brunetti in the middle of temptations that he isn't able to resist.
In Venice, the Ufficio Catasto is in charge of approving building plans and being sure they are faithfully carried out. As in many cities, homeowners try to avoid extra taxes by keeping improvements hidden from the government. Franco Rossi arrives from the Ufficio Catasto to ask Guido if he has the plans for his apartment. Why? The Ufficio Catasto has no record of plans or permits for the apartment.
What does this mean? Guido may have to pay a large fine; he may have to make substantial changes in the apartment; or he may have to demolish the apartment. None of those choices seem attractive. What about using a little influence to avoid the problem? That temptation dangles before the Brunettis throughout the story.
But they are not the only ones who have such challenges -- Vice-Questore Patta also has the need for some help with public matters. Guido finds himself placed in the middle of that moral choice as well.
During the course of the story, Guido also learns about other unpleasant parts of the underbelly of Venice "civilization" that lurks beneath the beautiful exterior that the tourists love to admire.
It's a powerful story that will leave you seeing Venice differently than you have before.
Enjoy!
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Always great
Donna Leon's novels are consistently fantastic. You cant go wrong.
I won't write another six words just to fill the
I won't write another six words just to fill the
Published 4 days ago by pmac
5.0 out of 5 stars
Leon never disappoints
If you won't to be truly transported, to dreamy Venice, no less and caught up in intrigue, both political, office and crime, this book's for you
Published 22 days ago by Carole A. Clifford
4.0 out of 5 stars
Guido the Magnificent!
I love Donna Leon's books, and have read most of her Commissario Guido Brunetti series. There is always compelling mystery but never blood and gore. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Chris Lindaman
4.0 out of 5 stars
Loving Comissario Campeneri
This novel/mystery holds its own with Leon's whole series featuring the Commisario. There is always a bit of humor. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Kathryn L. Cox
4.0 out of 5 stars
Venice is all
I never tire of the beautiful backdrop for human pettiness and corruption in Venice. Brunetti and his family with their wholesome life and good food contrasted with the underbelly... Read more
Published 4 months ago by LoveVenice
4.0 out of 5 stars
Friends in High Places - Venice re-visited
It is impossible not to enjoy any book by Donna Leon. The intrepid Venetian detective, Guido Brunetti, always solves the case with panache albeit with a little world-weariness and... Read more
Published 5 months ago by margaret visciglio
2.0 out of 5 stars
Little action
The storyline moved along so slowly that I almost put the book down. There isn't a mystery or body until more than 1/3 into the book. By then, I almost didn't care! Read more
Published 6 months ago by Susan Gayle
4.0 out of 5 stars
Cultural treasure
I love this series of Commissioner Brunetti 's Venice. The plot weaves in Venetian locations and Italian culture with interesting plots. Always a great read
Published 7 months ago by Violet Visions
3.0 out of 5 stars
OK
I found Friends in High Places OK, but definitely not one of Donna Leon's better works. I will keep reading her books.
Published 7 months ago by JannyM
3.0 out of 5 stars
Another of the Series
It is similar to other books in this series, a little slow,but provides an interesting view of life in Venice.
Published 7 months ago by Kitty Grandma
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