Blood from a Stone (Commissario Brunetti Book 14)

Another exercise in futility for Brunetti. Another demonstration of the impossibility that justice will be served, even though Brunetti is so committed to doing right. The irony is growing thin... Can we get a happy ending at some point?

A dark skinned man selling fake designer pursesw is killed, the others with him strangely disappear. The only witnesses willing to convey what they saw are American tourists. How strange. When Commissario Brunetti begins his investigation, he is quickly told to back off. To leave the investigation to The Ministry of Internal Affairs and The Ministry of Foreign Affairs.Brunetti is taken aback by what has happens so he keeps investigating just long enough to find out where this group of foreigners have gone. And, finds out where in the city they are staying. Discovering during his visit a books filled with what appears to be rawDiamonds.This is the here our story begins and where it will ultimately end.Read this one soon. You will definitely enjoy it.

As is rather usual in the Guido Brunetti novels, our protagonist searches for the truth while politicians continually obfuscate. An African immigrant is murdered in what is an obvious professional hit, but why? How could one of these quiet young men come to the attention of Rome? Is it the Mafia? Soon the government is involved and Brunetti is told to cease his investigations, but not before he discovers a cache of uncut diamonds. This isn’t the Mafia, but what is going on? I enjoy the puzzle of these mysteries, but the way the rich and connected get away with murder, literally, can be frustrating. Of course, it happens in the US too, but hopefully it’s more an anomaly than business as usual. In the end, the puzzle is solved but no justice is done.

I enjoyed this book but felt cheated by the ending. The entire book is taken up in the search for the man or men who murdered the victim yet no person is ever identified. We get instead a single paragraph explaining the international politics of the situation and are left to join our own conclusions. Thus, Leon just wipes her hands of any further explanation, any extension after the reader has worked so hard to get to the solution. That's frustrating! That said, Leon write affectingly and beautifully. She describes small moves by Paola (how she makes coffee), Guido (his wet shoes, movements), and Patta that enable the reader to picture the action. The characters are real, for the most part, and likable, and the relationship between Paola and Guido is very sweet. Introducing Paola's father near the end is extraneous as are many of the sidelight incidents in the novel. References to other writings (Joseph Conrad, Shakespeare) in passing made this reader feel in the know. The book IS slower moving than other Brunetti books, but well worth the trip -- though you may not be thrilled when you arrive at your destination.

A compelling read. An excellent book. As a friend said to me about the U.S., " the flag follows the dollar and the soldiers follow the flag." Apparently the same is true of police forces. Maybe it would translate the same in Italy using the word, "Euro." The depressing fact is that this is true of most, if not all, countries. Justice and fair play are too often entangled and overwhelmed by greed and prejudice.Brunetti was told to leave the case and trust that his superiors knew what they were doing, though they thwarted attempts to discover who the murdered man was, set up a fake raid to kill those they wanted dead,... but after all, Italy (read private companies) in the form of Euros benefits and an African country is "pacified."But the book cannot lead to despair with Brunetti and Vianello and their friends doing what they can to right the wrongs and at least understand what is actually happening around them.

As a longtime fan of Donna Leon I look forward to the publication of each new Commissario Brunetti mystery. However, my enthusiasm is waning of late. This time Brunetti is involved in finding the killer of an African peddlar - one of an onslaught of illegal immigrants to Italy. Brunetti is warned off of actually solving the crime, the despicable Vice - Questore Patta, telling Brunetti the higher ups in the Departments of Interior and the Foreign Ministry want it so. I won't give away the ending; suffice it to say it has political overtones and involves the war on terror.What is beginning to turn me off about the Brunetti mysteries is Leon's insistence on subjecting her readers to her ultra-leftist diatribes which she is increasingly putting into Brunetti's wife Paola's mouth. (This trend began with Doctored Evidence her last novel). We are treated to a lecture on the evils of giving a bouquet of tulips as a gift because of the wasted energy used to grow and ship something that will wind up in a garbage can in two days. We are told that a man who wakes to find two drug addicts robbing his home and shoots them dead, is evil and should be the one prosecuted. The drug addicts are described repeatedly as 'poor devils'. After all the man who shot them had insurance and would be reimbursed. I suppose Leon thinks he should have known they meant no harm to him and his familybefore he shoots. (Perhaps he should have stopped for a chat with them upon finding them in his living room). Paola is appalled that the Italian government sends a large contingent of men to capture a terrorist cell. Apparently she thinks one police officer would be sufficient to do the job. Clearly Ms. Leon doesn't take the war on terror very seriously. She also believes Americans call everyone "Islamic Fundamentalists" even if someone double parks. Finally we are assured it's only leftist types who display any interest in the dead peddlar who is the center of this mystery. In Leon's black and white world only leftist's can feel compassion for a dead man. Supporters of the current Italian government are heartless and uncaring.Enough already, Ms. Leon. Please keep your leftist opinions to yourself and give us back the wonderfully plotted and atmospheric novels set in the ephemeral La Serenissima. If I want to read political diatribes I can read Al Franken instead.

Death and politics in a story that extends from Brunetti's home city of Venice to the shadowy ministries of Rome. Why has a simple street seller with his fake designer handbags been gunned down by professional hitmen? Answering this question puts Guido Brunetti at odds with the authorities in a story that contrasts with his loving home life.To say more would fling up spoilers, but be warned, once you've been introduced to the work of Donna Leon and the character of Commissario Brunetti you will become hungry for more. Cultured and engrossing, enjoy.

I am a self confessed fan of Donna Leon having read all fourteen Brunetti books and I have just bought the next in the series - which may be why I may be feeling a bit guilty about giving 'Blood From A Stone' only three stars. The atmospheric background of Venice is still there and the usual characters are still interesting but I felt everything else was a bit flat. The story begins well with an African street trader being singled out and executed by two professional assassins. Exciting stuff! Then, for me, the plot fizzed out and nothing much happens for far too long. It's always nice to read about Brunetti's family, in this case his wife (appropriately enough a lecturer) and daughter, but I felt their involvement was used to sermonise about the plight of African immigrants trying to eke out a living by selling dodgy handbags to wealthy tourists in a prosperous European country. Even the morals of buying cut flowers were touched on at one point. The immigrants, subsisting in poor accommodation often one step ahead of the law, are dealt with sympathetically both by the author and her fictitious police officers - as are a couple of burgling drug addicts with AIDS who are shoehorned into the plot with another wisp of sermonising (tourists don't fare so well). The plot does pick up eventually and gathers pace and, not for the first time, Brunetti is left feeling helpless at the unfairness of life generally and the Machiavellian Italian justice system. Perhaps after fourteen books I've come to expect too much.

As usual, Donna Leon employs her impressive word skills in conjuring up the title for this, the thirteenth episode in the Commissario Brunetti series. Before reading the book, the title means nothing; come the end, it becomes so apt.This time Brunetti has to deal with an apparently motiveless shooting of one of those African street-sellers of `fake' high-quality handbags that every tourist to the city will have come across sooner or later. Signorina Elettra thinks they could just as well live on another planet, so little are their lives known by the Venetians: "They don't have any contact with us, not real contact ... They appear like mushrooms, set out their sheets, and do business until they disappear again. It's as if they popped out of their space capsules, then vanished again."Brunetti is warned off investigating the case too deeply in no uncertain terms by his boss, Patta. Why? Brunetti considers that whoever is behind the order must be very powerful: "The obvious candidates fell into the categories of governmental, ecclesiastical, and criminal; the great tragedy of his country, Brunetti mused, was how equal they were as contenders." Brunetti's cases usually end on a downer about the structural paradoxes of the Italian justice system, but this time Leon's net is cast much wider to comment on murky Italian high politics in general.As usual, much of the veracity of the Venetian scene painted by Leon is due to the private family life lived by Brunetti. In this instalment, we learn his wife's nickname for Berlusconi (and why), whilst Brunetti himself accuses Paola of being earth-mother, mind-reader, and a snake, all of which she does not deny. Brunetti's cultured reading is also on display: the Iliad, Dante, Ammianus Marcellinus, and Paola chucks in Austen and Conrad for good measure.This is one of the better Brunetti tales, despite the plot relying again on a lucky discovery. I look forward to the next instalment.

I had read some of the books before and enjoyed going back to them particularly because my son and his partner had just been in Venice. Thanks to Facebook, I felt as if I was there with them and it was wonderful. Given how much they enjoyed every Venice cliché in the book, it felt odd to see all those tourists through Brunetti's eyes but I still really enjoyed every one of the books. There is only one to go for me but I am being strong and waiting for the price to come down, trying hard to enjoy the anticipation.

Book arrived quickly.Donna Leon is an extremely skilled and very interesting writer.The Brunetti books are far more than just police detective stories. They are threaded with acute observations about Italian society.The plots are exciting and interlaced with lovely personal and domestic storylines.Her work is highly regarded by academics as well as a wide readership. I know of one Oxford University academic who wishes that Leon was writing about her area of interest (Russia) because she would include the books in the teaching curriculum.An exciting book by an accomplished author.