Tue 18 Oct 2011
Reviews by L. J. Roberts
DONNA LEON – Fatal Remedies. Wm. Heinemann Ltd., UK, hardcover, 1999. Penguin, US, September 2007. Reprinted several times.
Genre: Police procedural. Leading character: Commissario Guido Brunetti; 8th in series. Setting: Italy.
First Sentence: The woman walked quietly into the empty campo.
Commissario Guido Brunetti is in a difficult position. It is his job to uphold the law. However, his wife, Professor Paola Brunetti, wants to stop a local travel agency from
running sex tours for men. She demonstrates her cause by vandalizing the agency.
With added pressure from above to solve a robbery and murder with possible Mafia connections, Brunetti is concerned both about his relationship with his wife and his career.
A book that starts without a prologue but with an unexpected, intriguing opening will always capture my interest and Leon wrote a great first chapter with Fatal Remedies.
But there are so many things to which I look forward, and enjoy, from Donna Leon. Her characters are wonderful. Brunetti has a very normal family with normal conflicts, even when they are demonstrated in not-so-normal ways.
I appreciate Brunetti’s seeming pragmatism and understanding that his job is to uphold the law, which is not always just; and the police secretary, the wonderful, smart and enigmatic Signorina Elettra is endlessly fascinating, for Brunetti as well as for the reader.
Leon creates a rich sense of place through sensory descriptions of sight, sound and particularly, smell. She also uses humor and introspection well… “There are days when I think everything’s getting worse, then there are days when I know they are. But then the sun comes out and I change my mind.â€
In spite of the light moments, Leon always reminds us that this is a true police procedural in which there is violence and tragedy. Well done, Ms. Leon.
Rating: Very Good.
Bibliographic Note: Scheduled for 2012 is number 22 in the series, Beastly Things. For a complete list, check out the Fantastic Fiction website.
October 18th, 2011 at 4:54 pm
I like this series of books very much indeed.
However, the German-made TV series based on the Brunetti books is one of the strangest things I’ve ever seen : I act much more Italian than the lead German actors, and I am a not particularly-demonstrative Californian without a drop of Italian blood on either side of my family. The British Aurelio Zen series with almost no Italians in the cast seems far more authentic.
(“Inspector Brunetti” shows on the MHZ network in the U.S. and the DVDS are available from MHZ also.)
I recommend the Leon books without reservation, though
October 18th, 2011 at 5:14 pm
I kind of cringed when I discovered that there are 21 books in the series, soon to be 22, and I’ve not read any of them. I bought them as they came out while Penguin was publishing them in the small regular sized PB format, but when they switched and started over in the larger “trade” size, I lost track of which ones I already had and stopped buying them. My error. LJ continues to do a great job of reminding me to review my reading habits like this.
I bough the British ZEN series, but didn’t know about the German Brunetti one. I’ll investigate but proceed with caution! Thanks for the heads-up.
October 18th, 2011 at 6:33 pm
Yes ,that German TV -series is like from outer space.
If you have Germany and Italy as neighboring
countries, and tourists from both nations, and see German actors trying to be Italians, it is full of unintended comedy.
I really don’t understand why they do it, but modern TV gets stranger by the hour, anyway.
How is the series received in the States?
The Doc
October 18th, 2011 at 10:08 pm
You’re from Austria, Doc? The best of all worlds, perhaps. I’ve never been there to see for myself, but I’ve often wished.
I don’t imagine the Brunetti DVDs have sold all that well in this country. In general Americans don’t much care for watching TV with subtitles.
As much as I mention Amazon on this blog, I don’t usually include direct links, but in this case, I’ll make an exception.
This link leads to the first series, which has been reviewed by four buyers, so far, averaging 4 stars out of 5.
http://www.amazon.com/Donna-Commissario-Brunetti-Mysteries-Episodes/dp/B00545D5U8/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1318993399&sr=1-1
October 18th, 2011 at 11:24 pm
Well Steve, my 2 star rating has now lowered the average a bit. 🙂
Doc, nobody I know has even heard of the Brunetti series, or MhZ network and its wonderful “International Mystery Special” presentation of subtitled European mystery productions.
BTW,those IMS productions have also included Montalbano, Coliandro, Huss, Van Veeterer, Varg Veum, Maigret, and Wallander. Most of those are available on Amazon and/or at the MhZ DVD shop.
October 19th, 2011 at 12:27 am
Only recently did I learn about the films and I was actually pleasantly surprised. It was, I’ll admit very disconcerting to have it set in Venice with actors speaking German. However, I actually I liked them. I was pleased at how true they stayed to the books–or as close as they could. Physically, I felt the casting was well done. My only problem is that I usually crochet while I watch television; you can’t do that and read subtitles. And thank you, Steve, for the nice compliment.
October 19th, 2011 at 12:38 am
I also must say it helped me to think that hearing a mystery set in Venice spoken in German is really no more weird than it being spoken in English. Think about it. 🙂
October 19th, 2011 at 3:58 am
Thanks for the feedback, everyone ! I did’nt know the series was available in the US.
Sub-titles are no issue in German-speaking TV or movies, almost everything gets dubbed.
And it is not the fact that the actors speak German, they also would in Italian series ,it is more the difference in gestures and je ne sais quoi, plus the knowledge that they are German actors, that makes it seem a little bizarr.
Yup, I’m from Austria, and although, due to certain unwanted developments, it is not, what it used to be, and stands to lose a lot more, it still is quite nice.
The Doc
October 19th, 2011 at 8:59 am
Doc, let me second that very few people in the States even know this series exists. Like Steve I have (some of) the books but have not yet read the first one.
If the Zen series was much better than this, however, I just wouldn’t bother because other than the scenery I did not care much for it at all.
I would, however, like to get hold of the Montalbano series as those are among my favorite current series.
January 24th, 2012 at 11:41 pm
A bit late to this discussion, but found it interesting as my wife and I like watching the International Mysteries here in California…
Inspector Montalbano is one of our favorites and enjoy many of the other series from the Scandinavian countries too.
Like others, the first time we saw Inspector Brunetti, it was quite jarring to hear Italian sound like German… 😉 Then realized it is German!…..once we got over that, we enjoyed the series.like others, enjoy the characters plus the setting, stories, and subplots.
Also, echo others that mention the recent Zen series…found the episodes very intriguing and disturbing at the same time…wish they’d make more episodes….
The fascinating thing with the various International Mysteries is to see how the specific locale and culture manifests itself in the mystery.
Find the Scandinavian msyteries very interesting, but very dark and more frightening in the intensity of evil portrayed by the murderer(s). Not always a good thing to watch late in the evening just before trying to go to sleep….but enjoy watching them….
September 8th, 2014 at 8:18 pm
I’m an American who discovered the International Mysteries through my library. They have all of them. Really enjoy Montalbano and Brunetti. The scenery is fantastic. The only one I didn’t care for was the Wallaner series. Anyways I personally would give the Brunetti movies 5 stars. The mysteries are unique, the human interactions good and the view of venice are fabulous.