The Fisherman murders (A Sea of Troubles - Donna Leon)

Member Name: CPTDANIELS

Product:	A Sea of Troubles - Donna Leon
Date:	16/04/09 (277 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Exciting crime novel

Disadvantages: None

Background:

This is the fourth novel I have read by Donna Leon. My boss loves this author and persuaded me to try her. Since then I have become addicted to her style. I was not planning to read another so soon but when I saw this one for only £2.50 I could not resist it.


About the author:

Donna Leon gave up her job as a teacher to pursue her dream to become a writer. Since then she has become a very successful and acclaimed crime novelist.
She was born September 29th 1942 in the US, but focuses her books on her home for the past 20 years of Venice in Italy. So far she has written 13 books featuring Commissario Brunetti as the lead character and his investigations.

The story itself:

Commissario Brunetti is called to the sleepy fishing village of Pellestrina in Italy, to investigate the murder of two of its Clam fishermen. It is a guarded society that distrusted outsiders and is not willing to share its secrets especially with the Police.

Brunetti struggles as a result to find out who is responsible as no one will talk to him about the men, despite one of the murdered men being very unpopular and disliked by all he came into contact with.

The Commissario reluctantly agrees to let one of his team a Secretary Signorina Elettra go under cover to discover the truth. She is known within the community as a relative lives there and she in the past has spent her holiday there. So if anyone can unearth the truth maybe she can? But has Brunetti landed her in her most dangerous role of her career?


My thoughts on the book:

I found this to be a very enjoyable novel. It was extremely well written and always kept my interest and I was keen to find out the truth. The author clearly understands the culture within small Italian regions and demonstrates it well in the book.

The storyline is excellent and for me that was the most important feature of my enjoyment of the book itself that made it compulsive. Through the intelligent descriptive abilities of the author I was able to understand and enjoy the gripping story.

The story flowed well and built up to a very exciting and nerve tingling last few chapters. This made it all fly by and made me want to find the conclusion to the investigation.

My only slight criticism with the storyline would be that the outcome of the Police investigation seemed based on an awful lot of luck and good fortune. But it did at the same time leave doubt in the readers mind about what would happen to all the involved parties.

I have got used to and like Donna Leon's main characters. Specifically Brunetti whose character and personality I find interesting and one I can relate to. I particularly like the relationships both within the Police organisation and within his own family. In previous reviews I have been critical of the amount of irrelevant dialogue between the Commissario and his wife, but in this book the author had it about right and I could also see the relevance to the story itself.

The author has an attractive and very easy writing style. This helps get the reader hooked on the story and enjoy her book from its outset. It also makes you want to know the outcome to the story but also the interplay between its main characters.

A further very enjoyable aspect on Donna Leon's work which is particularly prevalent in this novel is the way she very cleverly brings sub plots into her work. This makes the reader question what is happening and makes it a more complex but at the same time interesting read.

Leon is also by intelligent writing is able make the reader wonder how they would react given a similar situation. While at the same time alerting you to what is happening in Italian culture and the values within it. With all the concerns subtly aired in relation to ethics, the Mafia and financial corruption.


Conclusion:

This was a very exciting crime novel. It moves at a good pace and is entertaining throughout with an excellent conclusion. I would recommend this book to anyone that enjoys a well written Police investigation. For me this has been the most interesting and well written novel by Donna Leon that I have read.


Published by: William Heinemann 2001
Pages: 336
ISBN: 009941516X
Amazon price: £2.44 (best)
More about the author: http://www.donnaleon.co.uk


Best wishes to all!!

This review was writtem on Ciao by me last year.

@CPTDANIELS April 2009

Summary: Recommended