Death in a Strange Country (Mass Market Paperback)

~ (Author) "The body floated face down in the murky water of the canal..." (more)
Key Phrases: police launch, Signor Viscardi, Doctor Peters, Grand Canal (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Kirkus Reviews

Something different for Venetian Commissario Guido Brunetti, whose first case (Death at La Fenice, 1992) so expertly resurrected the closed-circle whodunit. This time, the murder of Sgt. Michael Foster, public health inspector at the American military hospital at Vicenza, produces such a pronounced lack of reaction--Brunetti's officious boss Patti insists it be written off as a mugging; somebody plants cocaine in Foster's quarters in the hope of heading off further questions; even Foster's lover and commanding officer insists she has no idea why he's been killed--that the fix is clearly in with either the American military or the Italian police. Patti pulls Brunetti off the case to work a burglary from a Grand Canal palazzo, but that--and more sinister high-level skullduggery--are predictably tied in too. No whodunit, but a measured, thoughtful conspiracy investigation that goes a long way toward extending Leon's range. This is definitely an author to watch. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

Brunetti... long ago joined the ranks of the classic fictional detectives. -- Evening Standard

Commissario Brunetti, most charismatic current Euro-cop, uncovers deadly ants’ nest of corruption. A highly accomplished, scary read. -- Guardian

The characters of Brunetti and his family continue to deepen throughout this series. -- The Times, London

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics); 1st THUS edition (January 4, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0143034820
• ISBN-13: 978-0143034827
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #155,221 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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• This is item 2 in The Commissario Guido Brunetti Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another winner from Leon, October 30, 2002

By	Eric C. Welch (Forreston, Illinois USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Death in a Strange Country (Audio Cassette)

I continue to be an enormous fan of the Commisario Brunetti series. For those of you who may have missed my earlier reviews, Donna Leon teaches English for the University of Maryland Extension near Venice and has lived in Italy for many years. She portrays the flavor of Italian life vividly, and it's clear that while she must love living there, petty and not-so-petty corruption is rampant. She makes delightfully wicked little comments. For example, the Carabineri major, interviewed by Brunetti on an American army post - not base, that's for the Air Force - waxes on about the characteristics of Americans. They tend to be arrogant, of course, but Americans are really too insecure to be truly arrogant, "unlike the Germans." Classic.

Brunetti is walking home through "battalions of ravaging tourists who centered their attacks on the area around San Marcos. Each year it grew harder to have patience with them, to put up with their stop-and-go walking, with their insistence on walking three abreast through even the narrowest calles. There were times when he wanted to scream at them, even push them aside, but he contented himself by taking out all of his aggressions through the single expedient of refusing to stop, or in any way alter his course, in order to allow them a photo opportunity. Because of this, he was sure that his body, back and elbow appeared in hundreds of photos and videos. He sometimes contemplated the disappointed Germans looking at their summer videos during the violence of the North Sea storm as they watched a purposeful, dark-suited Italian walk in front of Tante Gerda or an Onkel Franz, blurring, if only for a moment the lederhosen-clad tourists" with what was probably the only real Italian they would see during their stay.

An American soldier, Sgt. Michael Foster, an American public health inspector at the American military hospital in Vicenza, has been found floating in one of the Venetian canals. In an act of true heroism, two policemen jump in the water - the water being so dirty, hence the heroism - and drag him out. Brunetti's superior would like nothing better than to have the case buried, because the idea of an American being killed in Venice would ruin the tourist trade. Brunetti purposefully manipulates his boss into thinking the murder might have been committed elsewhere - must think of tourism, of course - so he can be authorized to travel to the man's post and investigate. An army captain, Dr. Peters, a woman doctor, who had come to Venice to identify the body in the morgue, had vomited from what Brunetti thought was from fear, when she saw how the man had been killed, by a knife plunging directly through the ribs into the heart. He suspects something is rather odd about this case, especially when he finds some cocaine that was not well hidden in the dead soldier's apartment, apparently after it had been thoroughly searched by the military authorities. The case becomes more complicated as both he and the Carabinieri major are politely warned off the case after they discover a connection between the dead soldier, a sick boy, contracts for the disposal of toxic waste, Brunetti's father-in-law, and the ostensible suicide by heroin overdose of Dr. Peters, not to mention the theft of some famous paintings from a prominent businessman.

As with many of her other books, you are left at the end deeply saddened by the corruption, the illicit use of power and its effect on Brunetti, who, despite all, struggles on trying to stay an honest cop. He is a wonderful character.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Another wonderful Brunetti mystery, February 27, 2001

By	R. Peterson "International citizen" (This month? In Tbilisi, Georgia (Former Soviet Republic)) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Death in a Strange Country (Hardcover)

When a young American man is found floating dead in one of Venice's canals, our man Guido Brunetti is on the case again. In this story, Brunetti discovers that the john doe is an American sergeant from the nearby US military base in the Veneto hills whose job was as the public health inspector for the military hospital. In all of Leon's books, Brunetti frequently finds himself constrained by those who should otherwise be assisting him. His supervisor, Patti, urges him to avoid digging and brushes it off as a mugging gone bad (in all of the Brunetti cases Patti finds more reasons than not to either pull Guido off a case, or insist that the important people who begin to appear implicated in a given murder could not possibly be involved and must be left alone) and even dismisses the case and has Guido assigned to a burglary of some art work in one of the wealthy homes on the Grand Canal. Brunetti finds planted cocaine in the man's small apartment, and has an initial interview with the man's associate, a young woman who is found later to have (questionably) committed suicide. The more obvious it becomes that Guido is not meant to discover what actually happened to the sergeant or more importantly, why, the more urgent his investigation becomes. Again, a delight to read Leon weave all the pieces together.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best Brunetti mystery yet!, July 2, 2001

By	Starr "carnevalestarr" (St Gallen, Switzerland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Death In A Strange Country (Audio Cassette)

As a USAF officer stationed in Northern Italy, this story brought knowing smiles and head-nods as I read it. Ms Leon has lived in this area for years and teaches at one of the American universities located on the major military bases here. Her depiction of the Italian view of our presence in their country was especially enlightening for those of us trying to live in our host nation without acting like "ugly Americans". Even if her characters and plots weren't interesting on their own--which they are--this book would still be worth it for any American living in the Venice area--especially those connected with the military. I've enjoyed all the books I've read by Donna Leon, but this one really hit home--I just hope it's not true!