A Commissario Guido Brunetti Mystery - Through a Glass

Very possibly the weakest entry in the entire series. Halfway through the book before there is a murder,
and even when it finally does happen, it's more of an afterthought. This is a book about glass making and
pollution. Actually way more than you could ever possibly want to know about glass making and pollution.
As much as I love Guido & Company, I'm going to need a little break before I head back to Venice

I was vacationing in Venice from November 8, 2007 to November 14, 2007, so I was anxious to read my third Donna Leon mystery. In each crime novel she writes about another aspect of Venetian life. This book deals with the Murano Island glassmaking factories and pollution of the lagoon. I wanted to get another taste of Venice by immersing myself in her book, looking for a pleasant reliving of my visit by her sense of place and her depiction of Venice. She does have Venice as the background, but it is kind of an offhanded, less than vibrant use of the city.
A father blames the disposal of waste chemicals in the glassmaking process for his daughter's birth defects. He goes on a one-man crusade to prove his thesis. Commissario Brunetti again defies his superiors to launch an investigation. Once again his family is involved in the story, and his daughter helps solve the case. Leon's descriptions of the glassmaking process with a mestre (master craftsman) creating beautiful works is interesting. The glassmaking furnaces and a copy of Dante's "Inferno" figure in the story.
Leon has a pokey, stately-paced way of telling a story. There's not much action or suspense in this leisurely developed story. Her characters have a certain vitality and seem to live and breathe. She knows how to develop her plot, but she, unfortunately, doesn't move it along as fast as she might. She's a very capable stylist. Just be ready for a rather unhurried narrative about an honest and persistent cop.

Sometimes, it's best not to work "by the books." Thus, with spring fever permeating the Pearl of the Adriatic, Commissario Guido Brunetti and team begin an investigative adventure on their own, or at least one not officially sanctioned.

In Donna Leon's latest Brunetti novel ("Through a Glass Darkly"), we find the Commissario once again keeping his eyes peeled for Venetian crimes, especially of corruption, social injustice, and, of course, murder.

His assistant Vianello introduces Brunetti to a friend who's just been arrested for protesting on the island of Murano against environmental pollution. It's a simple matter and the friend Marco is soon released; however, this sets the whole story in motion: a story of corruption and, yes, murder. It's not until the murder, of course, that the police become officially involved.

Marco's father-in-law, who clearly hates Marco, is an owner of one of Murano's famous glass factories. The enmity lies, perhaps, in the fact that Marco is an environmental engineer and is clearly against unlawful pollution of the laguna. The rabid, aging father-in-law is a bully who's clearly out of control, or as Vianello observes he "a choleric man."

Complications arise and Leon is up to her usual level of brilliance in handling first rate police procedurals. An employee of the glass factory is found dead and, as Brunetti suspects, it's a suspicious death. The employee has been most vocal about the hazards of the factory, environmentally, and blames his daughter's tragic illness on the pollution.

Painstakingly, even cleverly, Brunetti and his team at the Questura bring the case to a close and once again Leon's literary magic prevails. Aside from her general plot outlines, Leon's greatest strength seems to lie in her ability to provide great depth to her characters, especially Brunetti, a police officer at once intrepid and all the time human, a man in a profession where integrity is not always a given. Each of the Leon episodes in this series provides additional depth to him and his family. And Leon`s pointed observations of the city and how it's run ("The matter lapsed, merging into the stream of gossip that flowed through Venice, much of it no cleaner than the water that flowed in the canals.") makes one wonder if the Italians actually read her books. Still, it's clear that she loves her overseas home (who wouldn't?) but, a bit like Cassandra outside the gates of Troy, her cries of corruption and incompetence seem largely to go unheeded!

In this 15th episode, we find that the author keeps the series open, and we can only hope she'll pick up the pace. Will it really be another year before her next Brunetti novel? ([email protected])

Donna Leon's fifteenth mystery is set on the island of Murano where her hero, Commissario Guido Brunetti, investigates a murder at a glass furnace there. Prior to the murder, Brunetti started snooping around Murano because of suspicion that one of the factory owners may be out to do bodily harm to his son-in-law, an environmental activist and good friend of Brunetti's sidekick, Vianello.

Leon writes her novels in the third person, and thus, almost everything is seen through Brunetti's thoughts and judgments. Through Brunetti's eyes, we experience a wonderful springtime in Venice and superb descriptions of glassware and the age-old art of glass making. Leon has done a lot of research for this book which is a primer on glass making lore and the operation of the factories on Murano. There is also biting social commentary on the effects of industrial pollution on the lagoon by not only the glass factories but also by the chemical and oil industries in nearby Margera. As is often the case, the murderer is motivated by Leon's old standbys--vanity, greed, and lust for power.

In a less serious vain, we get to enjoy selections from Dante's Inferno, the antics of Signorina Elletra, the stupidity of Vice-Questore Patta, and the usual immersion in Italian language, food, and culture.

Leon introduced a new character in this book--Paolo Foa. He is the boat pilot for the Questura and plays a key role in the solution of the crime. Foa replaces Bonsuan who was killed in book ten. He's an interesting guy and hopefully will appear in future books.

Inspector Vianello asks his boss, Commissario Brunetti to help him obtain the release of one of his friends who was arrested at a demonstration protesting the chemical pollution of the canals of Venice. This leads them into the investigation of the murder of a worker at a glass blowing factory in Murano, the world famous home of the glass blowing industry. The main culprit seems likely to be the owner of one of the factories, a choleric old man who is convinced that his old ways of getting rid of the residue of his business isn't harmful to anyone and who refuses to bend to any new, environmentally friendly rules. What follows is a story of greed, lust for political power and one of Donna Leon's usual great reads about the exploits of the Venetian police officer, Commissario Brunetti and the every day life of the people of Venice.

I found this Brunetti mystery less murky and more straightforward than most of the others in this series, despite the title. It's fascinating to get out to Murano and learn how the Venetian glass industry works, in a remarkably low-tech, individual workshops way. Leon's concerns about the environment continue to be a theme, counterbalanced by the beauty of Venice in the Spring. So it's one of my favorite of the Brunetti books, and I highly recommend it.

I love the character of Brunetti, his relationship with his co-workers and family and his love of his city. Leon does an excellent job of making the reader part of the environment. However, this was not the strongest book in the series. It seemed to get off to a very slow start and took awhile before I really felt involved. This is such a good series, but every author is allowed a slightly off book. It certainly won't prevent me from continuing the series.

I previously read A Noble Radiance by the same author and enjoyed it. I grabbed this book while away on business when I finished the other book I was reading. The only good thing to say is that this novel helped me go sleep quickly.

The plot meanders and is not very interesting. Brunetti is basically investigating a threat to someone which gets his foot in the door when something finally happens. Basically, the first half of the book is about something which is only marginally related to the dead body. I struggled to finish the book and will not put it in the pile of books for my wife to read. Instead, it is going in the giveaway pile.

Donna Leon continues her streak of delightful Guido Brunetti novels -- this one set mostly in the glass factories of Murano. She combines fascinating details of the fabled Venetian glass factories with well-developed characters and vivid geography to cook up a tale of intrigue and complexity. I think her characters here are more nuanced than in her other books, which is not a criticism of those other books. Fortunately, Donna Leon seems to be avoiding the trap of other popular authors who, after a few successes, seem to go into a slump. Leon just gets better and better with her irresistible tales of Venice.

Donna Leon must have cooking something when she wrote this book. It was like she kept checking to see if the something was done in the oven and came back and wrote a chapter to a different book. Some chapters seems totally unrelated to the book. Characters get mentioned and when I thumbed back to see who she was talking about, I couldn't find them. How can someone write such a great series of books and then totally bomb?!! It is a limp and tired story involving an environmental problem at a glass factory. Donna needs a vacation...from Venice!

PS. I never finished the book - it just isn't interesting.

I,ve just been introduced to Donna Leon's Commissario Brunetti
series and so far all have been almost "cant put down" books but
this one didnt particularly interest me. I am all for saving the
planet and deplore dumping ; it,s just something I do not really
enjoy reading about in a mystery plus this one got rather boring
I thought. Some of her mysteries are among the best written today.
Just not this one.

Once again, Donna Leon brings us to Venice. This time to enjoy the nuances of Murano. I found the book absorbing with Brunetti slowly making sense out of the case as well as sharing his family with us in helping to solve the mystery. I would recommend it to others who enjoy a travelogue along with their crime.

Donna Leon always writes a good yarn. Her books are interesting in the fact she uses locations as part of the story. This latest one is not quite up to the standards of the earlier books but good nevertheless.

Huge mistake to attempt this book - it is boring to the max.
I can believe someone decided that it was worth wasting valuable paper to produce this dreadful literature. Let alone pay someone to create an audio version as well.

Donna, Donna, Donna,

Please go back to murder and lunches and family life in Venice. This new book and your last one are too PC ! It is really boring and did not have much plot to hold your devoted fan...me!

I offered the book to another person and inquired if he wanted to read it? He said NO! I am not interested in her political views...she has lost her way!

This book, featuring Leon's Venetian detective, Guido Brunetti, must have the slowest buildup of any crime story ever written.

When absolutely nothing had happened by page 155, except descriptions of meals and drinks Brunetti and his wife had had plus a vague "plot" involving a crazed owner of a glassblowing factory who was threatening to kill his son-in-law, I gave up.

This quote from page 109 about sums up the book, even more so if you insert the words "the reader" for "Brunetti": "As he walked inside, Brunetti was forced to accept the fact that he had spent almost an entire working day on something that could in no way be justified as a legitimate use of his time."

A successful author like Donna Leon should be ashamed of this exercise in self-indulgence. By publishing material like this, she is taking her faithful readers for a ride.