Death at La Fenice: a Novel of Suspense

Comissario Guido Brunetti #1

by Donna Leon

I find it funny that the author only wrote this book as a joke then put it aside before submitting it to a contest and winning. Now it’s the first book in a long running series (33 as of 2024) that has been made into a television series.

Comissario Guido Brunetti of the Venice police is called in to investigate when the world-renowned conductor Helmut Wellauer is found dead partway through an opera.

I really liked the organic way that Brunetti followed leads and pursued avenues of investigation with very few leads. He has questions, he gets answers, and those lead to new questions. He knows how to handle people and uses, not exactly psychology, but knowledge of human nature. He observes, and he remembers.

Brunetti’s forthright pursuit of truth is a wonderful foil to some of the other characters. Wellauer’s widow is significantly younger than he, but she seems to have truly loved him. And yet, there is something off about her reactions. Likewise with the star of the opera, Flavia Petrelli, and her companion, Brett Lynch.

Brunetti delves into Wellauer’s actions during the war in order to better understand his character, and learns some dark truths.

These questions lead him to Clemenza Santina, a former singer who worked with Wellauer long ago. I really felt the bitterness of the old lady having lost her family and being all alone. Perhaps part of that is the setting – the cold damp of her little apartment with the narrow hallway leading to a chair where she sits covered in old shawls.

There is subtle humor as well, as in the description of the doctor who confirms the conductor is dead at the opera “She pulled in a deep breath of smoke and glanced down at her watch. Mickey’s left hand stood between the ten and the eleven, and his right was just on seven.” A doctor at the opera smoking and wearing a Mickey Mouse watch? Okay.

One of the most interesting images to me was that of Brunetti walking through the streets of Venice in a thick fog and having to reach out to know where the wall is. I imagine that a lot of people could end up in a canal over time due to intoxication.

What led to the death is barely hinted at fairly early on, but we don’t really know until very close to the end. Also, who exactly killed him is a surprise and yet not. I had begun to suspect about halfway through.

I would highly recommend this as an atmospheric and well written police procedural. I’ll definitely read more in the series.

 

Storymusing: The Secret of Chimneys by Agatha Christie, plus!

 

This month for our Thematic Book Club, we went with the theme “Replay.”

I happened to be listening to an episode of a favorite podcast, Shedunnit with Caroline Crampton, and she was featuring mystery books published every ten years from 1925 to 2025. She mentioned The Secret of Chimneys by Agatha Christie and then Gaudy Night by Dorothy L. Sayers.

My mind said, “Eureka!”

The Secret of Chimneys is a book I read many times in my teen years. The latter I’m not sure I read, but I have adored Dorothy L. Sayers ever since I took a detective fiction course in my junior college days.

I hopped onto our Hoopla app and searched for The Secret of Chimneys. There were no fewer than FOUR audiobook versions of the story. I clicked on each, checking out the ratings and who the narrator was before settling on one that had a good rating. (Age can also be a factor in the quality of the recording.)

What about Gaudy Night? Was that also available? It was. Just one recording, but I grabbed that too.

The Secret of Chimneys was published in 1925, but it has a modern style of fast-paced storytelling with lots of chipper dialogue. Even a hundred years later, the humor brings the word romp to mind. I kept thinking of Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca, as he’s being intimidated by the Nazis, and says, “Are my eyes really brown?”

Many of Agatha Christie’s books feature a detective of some kind, like Miss Jane Marple or Hercule Poirot. However, there are a few standalone novels such as The Man in the Brown Suit and The Secret of Chimneys.

In this vein, we start the story with Anthony Cade who is working as a tour guide in Bulawayo when he runs into his old pal, Jimmy McGrath. McGrath has a commission to deliver a politically charged memoir manuscript to the publisher in London for a whopping 1,000 pounds. But, he wants to go off and do something else so he subcontracts the job to Anthony. Oh, and by the way, can Anthony drop off these letters to one Virginia Revel? The poor girl wrote some indiscrete messages and Jimmy feels she should have them back. Considering the amount of money Anthony is about to make, how can he refuse?

Little does Anthony realize, there is more than one party who wants to get hold of that memoir. There will be several attempts at getting the memoir before he can get it to the publisher. Likewise, there is far more to the letters than meets the eye.

Anthony and Virginia are soon deeply embroiled in a complicated little plot and on their way to a house in the country called Chimneys where we meet a host of funny characters including the lord’s daughter, referred to as Bundle, who drives fast enough to make her dangerous.

Really, this is a just short of a farce. I loved the whole thing and now I remember why I read it through so many times as a teen. The audiobook enhances the experience and I may listen to it again before I lose access. If you haven’t read this book and you like golden age murder mysteries, grab a copy. You won’t regret it!

Gaudy Night was an interesting book but it weighs in at a whopping 450 pages. Perhaps it could have been shorter but it slowly develops the relationship between Harriet Vane and Lord Peter Whimsey while Harriet investigates an increasingly dangerous series of destructive pranks and poison pen letters at her old university. It delves deep into the difficulty of getting an education as a woman in the 1930s and hints at the coming world war as the world was in the grips of a depression, with one working man going so far as to suggest that what England needed was a Hitler. It’s a far ranging literary mystery and I enjoyed it thoroughly.

I actually ended up reading four different books this month. I finished The Dark Vineyard, book two in the series by Martin Walker, set in the Dordogne region of France. From the solid Chief of Police, Bruno, with his concern for the well-being of the people in St. Denis over the letter of the law, and the beautiful descriptions as well as the solid pursuit of truth, I can’t recommend this enough. I found it interesting that though there is some very dangerous sabotage of a GMO farming facility and fields, the murder does not happen until quite far into the book. An unusual choice, but it suits the style of story. It’s a very methodical and relaxing read with excellent setting and characterization.

The fourth book I finished in record time — The Little Lost Library by Ellery Adams. It’s a much lighter cozy mystery, heavy on dialogue with very sympathetic characters. There’s a sad story behind this one but one of the main premises of this series is the healing power of books, so that makes sense. The main character, Nora, runs her own bookstore. She takes books to a recluse named Lillian on a regular basis but doesn’t realize the extent of Lillian’s book hoarding because she is never allowed inside the house. There’s a lot Nora doesn’t know about Lillian and the book reveals all the secrets contained in the house bit by bit. It was a lovely, fast paced cozy mystery that I would also recommend to any fan of the genre.

All in all, it was a fabulous month of reading in hard copy, ebook and audio. What more could I ask for?

Next month’s theme is Elementals, as in Earth, Water, Air, and Fire. It’s a pretty broad theme so I’m sure I’ll find some good mysteries to fulfill the mandate.

Happy Reading!

Storymusing: "As long as I'm down here . . . I might as well put on my shoes: A Memoir" by Sandra Justice Hall

 

As long as I’m down here… I might as well put on my shoes: A Memoir

Sandra Justice Hall

Our book club’s theme for December was simply “sanity” because who isn’t just trying to stay sane with the holidays?

I realized I had the perfect book on my shelf. I had been meaning to read it ever since Sandra Justice Hall spoke at our library. She made a real impression with her sense of humor and her tale of tenacity in dealing with a brain tumor. I knew I wanted to read this book, so I bought a copy and put it on my shelf.

As long as I’m down here… is presented in short vignettes organized under the time frames of her first brain surgery, her second brain surgery, and the path back to health. The memoir is thin at only ninety-eight pages, with chapters just a scant few pages each, and eminently readable.

The stories are humorous, illuminating, and uplifting. There is also a strong cautionary note to the stories as she talks about not listening to her gut and having to fight to get properly diagnosed.

Hall had been under the care of a neurologist who diagnosed her with myasthenia gravis. “Secretly, my colleagues, friends, and family labeled me a “hypochondriac.”

After seven years of no improvement with treatment, unrelenting headaches led to the discovery of a tumor on her brain stem. Partially removed, it continued to cause problems. Finally, balance issues led her to another MRI and the recommendation of another surgery, this one high risk.

The writing style is just as humorous as her talk. One vignette is titled, “Were you normal before brain surgery?” A question that would make anyone gape, Sandy merely thinks it through and says, “Honey, I was never normal!”

The vignettes are filled with her gratitude for the support of so many people.

·         Her children and husband, including some exasperating times with her husband.

·         The nursing staff, such as the nurse who made ice chips for her from bottled water on her lunch because she couldn’t drink and there was an outbreak of legionnaires at the hospital.

·         The doctors, those she had to fight with and those she had to find.

·         Therapists, like the one who talked to her about Moby Dick.

·         Her friends who buoyed her on the way like the letters one wrote to open on certain days after the surgery, and the group who kept her from shutting herself away.  

After reading this book, I felt that the author is a kindred spirit, for so many reasons. 

It may be a small volume, but its impact is mighty, and I highly recommend it.