Book Review: Acqua Alta

Author: Donna Leon

Title: Acqua Alta

Description: Set in Venice, this is a police procedural mystery featuring an art historian who is beat up by thugs while her lesbian lover is in the other room. Within days, a museum director is dead, and Commissario Brunetti realizes the two incidents are connected.

Review source: the Penguin cornucopia

Plot: This was one of those books that I’d probably not pick up on my own. Things it had that I didn’t like:

1) police procedural—If I have to read about how someone does his job, let it be a librarian

2) series—if I don’t already read it, I probably don’t want to start

3) modern day mystery—probably because I don’t especially like guns (note: there aren’t many guns in this book)

4) art—if there’s crime, at least let it be a crime of passion. 

Credit: Fotopedia.com

4a) Chinese vases-- the most boring possible type of art.

5) mafia connections—in Italy, who else is there to be the bad guy?

Characters: There was a lot of shock over the idea of a lesbian couple. Other than that, none of the characters made a very strong impression on me.

Writing style: Straightforward. It was a pretty short book.

Audience: people who read this series

Acqua alta (Fotopedia.com)

Wrap-up: It was a happy circumstance that I picked up this book at the same time I was reading City of Falling Angels. I really enjoyed reading fiction and non-fiction about Venice side by side. It sounds like a truly awful place, unless you like walking everywhere in boots that, no matter how high they are, are too short to keep the water from pouring in. Yuck! 2.5/5*