I would love to visit Italy one day, and especially Venice. Leon’s books, along with others, have made me fall in love with the city.
A Noble Radiance features Commissario Guido Brunetti,Ā a good honest man searching for the truth while working in a police force and political system that are often corrupt or uninterested. In this installation, a body found in a field turns out to be the kidnapped son of one of Venice’s aristocratic families. Brunetti can’t accept any too easy answers and keeps digging, unearthing deadly secrets about the family and it’s business.
Setting and character are Leon’s strong points for me. Brunetti keeps me coming back to this series. He’sĀ intelligent, determined, and has a wonderful, strong, loving relationship with his wife and children, who are actually in the books, not just shadows rarely mentioned. And Signorina Elettra, the secretary of the Vice-Questore, is a treat, a woman I would love to know in real life.
This is not a fast-moving, action-packed mystery. It deals with personal relationships, with greed, with concepts like truth and justice.And we see all the clues at the same time as Brunetti, we see him working through the case, so when the end comes it isn’t a grand revelation, but is still satisfying.
I listened to this one narrated by Anna Fields, as I have with others in the series. I like hearing the Italian phrases, rather than seeing them in black and white and guessing the pronunciations. This is not a series I’ve read in order, but each stands on its own. Yes, the characters grow and change, but I never feel like I’m missing something by not having read the previous one.
4 out of 5 stars
Purchase A Noble Radiance from Amazon or an Indie bookstore.
Photos from Travel Photos: Venice Italy
Category: Mystery & Detective
Commissario Brunetti #7
First published 1997
6 hours, 55 minutes
Book source: Library
I have seen these around š
And it would be so good to hear those phrases, cos yes..no idea
I’d love to go to Venice, too. Right now, a book is probably the only way I’ll get there. I’ll have to look for this one.
You have made it sound incredibly interesting.
I did love Venice when I visited there a few years ago so I can highly recommend it and I think I would love to read a book set there as well!
I also would love to visit Italy. I’ll have to try the audio version since it would be fun to hear the Italian phrases instead of trying to figure it out on my own.
I have been to Venice…loved it!…but I have not read any of the books in this series yet. However, today you moved me to order the first in the series.
I haven’t actually read the first in the series yet. I’m just kind of meandering around all out of order.
Like you say, Leon’s descriptions of Venice are great. I dream of visiting one day, and riding in a gondola š I’ve read one of these Brunetti mysteries and enjoyed it.
Venice is such a nice place. I’d love to visit it one day.
Venice is my favorite city so I need to read this city, I keep wondering how I’m going to convince my husband that we need to visit it again.