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Friends in High Places (Guido Brunetti, Bk 9)
Friends in High Places - Guido Brunetti, Bk 9 Author:Donna Leon Venetian cop, Commissario Guido Brunetti, wonders whom he knows to bring pressure on a local government department, to investigate the lack of official building approval on his apartment. But when that same official phones him at work, clearly scared by some information he plans to give Brunetti, and is later found dead after a fall from scaffol... more »ding, something is clearly wrong, something with far greater implications than the fate of Guido's own apartment.
Brunetti's investigations take him into the unfamiliar areas of Venetian life -- drug abuse and loan sharking -- while the deaths of two young drug addicts, and the arrest and release of a suspected drug dealer, reveal, once again, what a difference it makes in Venice to have 'Friends in High Places'.« less
Although I have enjoyed every single one of Donna Leon's Commissario Brunetti novels, this one stands out from a solid crowd of winners as her best work. Because Leon avoids easy answers and neat endings, the sense of satisfaction (or justice) at the end of her mysteries is usually somewhat tempered and can leave you feeling ambivalent about the denouement. Friends in High Places is a grand slam, well-written all the way through, with fewer insights into Brunetti as a father but more of him as a husband, more of him as a native Venetian, and a closer look at Signorina Elletra, all of which are superb.
If I weren't so dedicated to PBS, I would keep this book forever! But I loved it so much, I have to share it.
Another excellent Donna Leon. This one peeks into the world of money lenders, government coruption and drugs with a hint of the mafia. She writes with confidence and clarity which make sher story believable as well as reflective of reality.
I LOVE Donna Leon's way of expressing motivations and thoughts without coming right out and saying it! Friends in High Places was just another example of her fabulous writing!
Julie W. reviewed Friends in High Places (Guido Brunetti, Bk 9) on
Loved this book. The author's descriptions of Venice and its citizens makes you feel like you know the city. Commissario Brunetti reminds me of Chief Inspector Gamache in the novels by Louise Penny......brilliant, lovable, and flawed.
If you love the Brunetti mysteries by Donna Leon, you'll like this book too. I have read all the books by Donna Leon to date and love them! Each is set in Venice, Italy and is about a mystery that Commissario Guido Brunetti solves. Leon evokes not just the layout of Venice, but mentions restaurants, shops, etc. that Brunetti and his family frequent. Venice is another character, so to speak, in the book.
In this novel Brunetti is visited by a young bureaucrat investigating the lack of official approval for the construction of Brunetti's apartment years before. What began as a red tape headache ends in murder when the bureaucrat is later found dead after a mysterious fall from a scaffold. Brunetti starts an investigation that will take him into the unfamiliar and dangerous areas of drug abuse and loan-sharking and will reveal, once again, what a difference it makes in Venice to have friends in high places.
Another review:
Leon tell the story as if she loves Venice as much as her detective does, warts and all. The plot and subplots unfold elegantly; beauty and the beast march hand in hand, and the result is rich entertainment." - The Sunday Times (London)
Lynne D. (dewfactor) - 
