Review: Acqua Alta (Commissario Brunetti, #5) by Donna Leon

Acqua Alta by Donna Leon
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Alta Acqua, the 5th book in the Commisario Brunetti series by Donna Leone. The title of the book refers to the time in winter, where water from the Adriatic Sea overflows into Venice causing homes and places in the city.

Guido Brunetti, the highly skilled, tenacious and very likeable Venetian police detective and family man finds himself investigating a murder and art fraud after his friend, Brett Lynch, an American archeologist and companion of the famous opera singer Flavia Petrelli, who were introduced in the 1st book of the series, Death at La Fenice, is savagely attacked at her home.

He discovers that her assault is linked to the murder and to a conspiracy that involves people in high places who will go to any lengths to silence Brett from delving into the world of art fraud and the stealing of valuable Chinese antiquities.

Guido Brunetti is one of my favorite detective characters. He’s honest, gracious, loyal and resolute but he also sees not only the beauty of the city but also the rise in corruption and crime that is threatening his much beloved Venice. He’s not admitting that there are things in his country that he will never change.

”No Italian would bother to ask why the shipments were not made directory in Germany. The Germans, it was rumored, saw the law as something to be obeyed, unlike the Italians, who saw it as something first to be fathomed and then evaded.”

Once again, the city of Venice is as much a character as the setting of this series. Through Brunetti eyes we see the daily life of the city’s inhabitants, the local restaurants, bars, family life, politics the dark alleys and beautiful architecture.
The author’s vivid and descriptive words give a look into the life in Venice that gives you a picture in your head that you are actually there.

The main characters are so likeable and endearing and most of all incredibly real.
I adore the talented and glamorous secretary, Signorina Elettra and love it when Brunetti describes her clothes….

“Signorina Elletra pushed her chair back from her desk and crossed her legs, revealing a short red skirt and a pair of shoes so high they would have raised her above even the worst acqua alta.”

I am looking forward to knowing more about her in the next books.
I loved Brunetti’s family dynamics. His interaction and dialogue with his wife and children is so amazing.

And of course, there’s Brunetti’s boss, the bureaucratic peacock Giuseppe Patta…a total pain in the butt…

“He removed his coat and put it on a hanger, then hung it on the curtain rod that ran in front of the window above the radiator. Anyone looking into the room from across the canal would see, perhaps, a man who had hanged himself in his own office. If they worked in the Questura, their first impulse would no doubt be to count the floors, looking to see if it was Patta’s window.”

A great addition to this series.

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