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    Death and Judgment: A Commissario Guido Brunetti Mystery
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    Death and Judgment: A Commissario Guido Brunetti Mystery
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    Death and Judgment: A Commissario Guido Brunetti Mystery
    Ebook353 pages4 hours

    Death and Judgment: A Commissario Guido Brunetti Mystery

    By Donna Leon

    3.5/5

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    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    In Death and Judgment, a truck crashes and spills its dangerous cargo on a treacherous road in the Italian Dolomite mountains. Meanwhile, in Santa Lucia, a prominent international lawyer is found dead aboard an intercity train. Suspecting a connection between the two tragedies, Brunetti digs deep for an answer, stumbling upon a seedy Venetian bar that holds the key to a crime network that reaches far beyond the laguna. But it will take another violent death in Venice before Brunetti and his colleagues begin to understand what is really going on.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherGrove Press
    Release dateJan 14, 2014
    ISBN9781555848972
    Unavailable
    Death and Judgment: A Commissario Guido Brunetti Mystery

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    Reviews for Death and Judgment

    3.5/5

    357 ratings25 reviews

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    • 2/5
      In this fourth outing for Commissario Brunetti, he gets to investigate the death of a prominent Venetian lawyer who has been shot in the Padua to Venice train, and soon finds himself dealing with a nasty web of organised crime and political corruption.These are entertaining novels: Leon is very good at keeping the Venetian background at the right level so that we feel almost like insiders, not tourists, and she is clever at characterising Brunetti through the way his relationship with his wife and teenage daughter works, but unfortunately she doesn't seem to be very interested in devising inventive mystery plots, possibly because she is so preoccupied with (usually well-justified) ranting about the evils of Italian society. Brunetti has to make do with endless variations on the three investigative tactics Leon allows him - having lunch/coffee/dinner with attractive, well-dressed women; making off-the-record phone calls to other policemen he believes not to be corrupt; and putting himself into danger late at night in shady parts of Mestre. He goes through the motions, and after 250 pages or so the author relents and tells him who did it. But, of course, Italian society being what it is (in Leon's world, at least), the real villains are rarely if ever brought to justice, and Brunetti might well ask himself why he bothers.
    • 3/5
      Venice's Commissario Brunetti's investigation of the murder of a wealthy lawyer on a train leads him into the dark underworld of human trafficking. His teenage daughter Chiara knows the victims daughter from school, so she decides to help her father by doing some investigating of her own. Although this book was first published nearly 25 years ago, unfortunately its theme is still timely. I was disappointed with the book's ending because it relies on a lengthy confession by the murderer.
    • 4/5
      A prominent Venetian lawyer is murdered on a train. The case is assigned to Commissario Brunetti. Soon a well-known person in Padua dies of a bullet-wound in his own car. Although the Padua police officially call it a suicide after altering official records, one detective there knows better, confiding in Brunetti. The brother-in-law of the Venetian lawyer who served as his accountant ends up dead too. Meanwhile the phone records of the Venetian and Paduan men points to a connection with bars where foreign prostitutes work. I'm a bit uncomfortable reading about prostitutes and sex crimes of the nature featured in this novel, but it does show the corruption in Italian law enforcement and government. We get to meet Guido's daughter more in this novel. She attends school with the lawyer's daughter and begins her own investigation and with unfortunate consequences. I listened to the audiobook read by David Colacci who did an excellent job.
    • 4/5
      Another good book, I like that the endings aren't necessarily smooth wrap ups to crimes, solved and happily ever after. They end as real life probably ends in solving crimes.
    • 3/5
      I wasn't as enthralled with this story as I had been with previous stories in the series - there was no single character that really grabbed my attention. Perhaps the resolution left me feeling cynical and queasy. However, the charms of the setting and of Brunetti and his family, make it an enjoyable read.
    • 4/5
      The story of the death of several prominent people, and the pressure to close the case with an acceptable finding. Then another case starts the story of the casual (truck accident) and deliberate killings (snuff film) of women smuggled in for sex work, and then held as slaves. As always there is a wonderful sense of Venice, modern Italians, and their fight with the corrupt bureaucracy of the state. The characters are like old friends, Guido, his family and co-workers. The writing is good, and the ending, much like real life isn't neatly wrapped up.
    • 4/5
      Great series. I like the ambiguous ending and the title certainly fits the story. Leon shines light on a very disturbing yet real undercurrent of evil. I don't know another word for what is revealed to be the criminal act. She also drives home the impotence of those trying to stem the tide when those in power partake in the trade.
    • 4/5
      The Brunetti books are always worth reading. Brunetti's struggle to balance the law, justice, morality and ethics raises important issues which are ably communicated through stylish and thoughtful narrative.
    • 3/5
      Not bad, but still not awesome. I suspect that, if it weren't for the fact that it takes place within that unique cosmos that is Venice, this would be a rather dull crime novel.
    • 4/5
      This is a black-hearted book despite the expected pleasures of Brunetti's home life, family relationships and long, boozy lunches, not to mention the crumbling charm of largely car-free Venice. Three very professional murders of rich and influential men lead into the real, and truly awful, crime at the centre of the story. On top of that is laid the author's recurring distaste for the pervasive corruption she perceives in the upper levels of the Italian establishment. The rich and influential can get away with anything but the uncertain ethics even rub off on the good guys as can be seen in the ease with which Brunetti gets confidential information from a doctor and detailed lists of suspects' phone calls from an unofficial source. In this context Signorina Elettra is an inspired creation, a deus ex machina who, with her wide circle of acquaintances and her computer, comes up with answers to questions, which would normally take days of dogged police work, over her lunch break.As with others of the series, thoroughly recommended.
    • 4/5
      In this fourth Commissario Brunetti murder mystery we see the detective get emotionally wrought with suspects for the first time. I like this series and am trying to read it in sequence. The ending to this one was a little odd with the Commissario going for a long ride in the suspect's car in the middle of the night with the suspect driving....poor judgment anyone?
    • 4/5
      I've read 8 of the 19 (not in order) of this incredible detective series set in Venice. Everytime I read one, I want to jump on a plane and then get in a gondola and take Venice by storm. Leon really fleshes out Comissario Guido Brunetti in this one. The story is as much about his struggle to enlighten his 14 yr old daughter about the subtle but substantial difference between something that is a crime, and something that is wrong, but given the fuzziness of the Italian criminal system, not necessarily a crime. In this episode he is dealing with murder, a prostitution ring, and several other unsavory aspects of this way of life to which his daughter has been unnecessarily and brutally exposed.It is once again, well plotted, deeply respectful of the characters (even the criminals) and still has enough comic relief in several of the characters to keep the dark parts from becoming unbearable. If you haven't yet discovered Donna Leon.....Get thee to the library.
    • 4/5
      Death and Judgment is the fourth book in the Commissario Brunetti series. Commissario Guido Brunetti is assigned to the case when a well-known Venetian lawyer is found murdered on a train. Chiara, Brunetti's daughter, attended school with the murdered man's daughter and informs her father that the parents had warned Francesca to be careful so that she wasn't kidnapped making Brunetti think that the Mafia may have made a hit. When the murdered man's business partner is found dead, the connection is made to a sleazy bar outside of Venice. When the lawyer's brother-in-law, his accountant, is found murdered as well, Brunetti realizes that the connections must go far deeper. and may impact greater on Venetian culture.In this book, Leon reveals the corruption surrounding the members of high Venetian Society and how money paid to the right people will produce just about anything. The storyline was, at times, very depressing and, in areas, frightening but the solution, though somewhat expected, was not unsatisfying. The actual ending leads the reader with the idea that Brunetti feels that though he solved the murder, he was not successful. There were several bright spots in the book, where Guido is interact with his wife and daughter and these give the reader a feeling of normalcy in a frightening world.
    • 5/5
      Commissario Brunetti, a regular readers of Rarebits, will remember, is the creation of Donna Leon. He's stubbornly honest in an Italian society that is portrayed as rife with criminal behavior, a country so overwhelmed by new laws that are enacted one day only to be repealed the next, that the distinction between what is wrong and what is criminal is often nebulous.

      Paula, Brunetti's professor of English spouse and delightfully moral character, issues stern reminders to Brunetti of the difference and their conversations are priceless. Brunetti is a complex man who has an engaging wit, a rapiersharp mind, and strong love for his family. Constantly under pressure from his superiors to ignore crimes that involve the elite, in this case his metal is tested. A well-known lawyer, Carlo Trevisan, is discovered shot to death on the train from Padua to Venice. Initially written off as a robbery gone bad, Brunetti has his doubts and when an accountant from a respected firm is found dead, ostensibly of his own hand but with Trevisan's phone number in his book and substantial amounts of a barbiturate in his bloodstream, Brunetti's crap detector goes into overdrive. Soon the links to a bizarre truck accident in the mountains where many young women are found dead, crushed by a load of lumber, fall into place, and Brunetti discovers a large web of international prostitution involving highly influential citizens of Venice. As the investigation proceeds, Brunetti learns that more than prostitution is involved. He discovers that a series of tapes was being commissioned and sold by the dead men that had shown the rape and killing of women in Croatia by Serb soldiers. A pair of mislaid and forgotten expensive reading glasses leads Brunetti to a travel agent, a former prostitute who had been in league with the men in supplying girls from other countries. She was the murderer, she admits to Brunetti, disgusted by her colleagues enjoyment in watching the rapes and brutal murders of the women, not because of the deaths -- after all the women would have died eventually anyway. She reveals that other very important men were involved in the extremely profitable business and knows that she will be killed. Brunetti arrests her, insists she be guarded, but is horrified to learn the next morning that she had been taken to Padua by order of the Ministry of Justice and special branch police. How had they learned so quickly of the arrest when Brunetti had made ever effort to keep it secret? This is an outstanding novel.

      Leon, who has lived in Italy for many years (like Paula, a professor of English), provides a jaundiced view of daily Italian life where the only safe procedure for a patient in an Italian hospital is the autopsy, and train strikes are a regular occurrence, and corruption exists at every level of society. She clearly worries about the effects of corruption on the moral fiber of that society and what it does to its members
    • 4/5
      Death and Judgement is Donna Leon's fourth book in the Commissario Brunetti series. When a prominent Venetian lawyer is found dead on a train, murdered execution-style, Guido Brunetti is assigned to the case. At first there are no leads, but Brunetti's daughter, Chiara, knows the murdered man's daughter and discovers a bit about the family - including that the parents always warned her to be careful so that she wasn't kidnapped. This immediately leads Brunetti into thinking that perhaps the Mafia is involved. Then a second man, an accountant, is found dead of what looks like a suicide but turns out to be a murder. The two murdered men are connected, however tenuously, by calling the same seedy bar in a town outside of Venice. When the lawyer's brother-in-law is found murdered - he a prominent lawyer - Brunetti knows that he is dealing with something that could touch even the highest levels of Venetian society.Death and Judgement is a dark book, and certainly the most cynical of the series thus far. In Leon's Venice, corruption runs rampant and the "best" citizens are often involved in the worst crimes. At one point in the book, Brunetti's wife, Paola, asks Guido why he is still with the police. I believe Brunetti's answer is something to effect that "someone has to do it," but this reader wonders how crushingly difficult it would be to know that power and money will protect even the worst criminals. At the same time, though, this is an excellent book. Eventually, the motives become clear and the crimes are solved, but the guilty parties do not pay the price for their crimes. The morally ambiguous ending seems right for our times.
    • 4/5
      Another wry and cynical pas d'armes between Commissario Brunetti and the corruption of Italian society. Once again, what starts off looking like a simple crime gradually extends tendrils into the world of the powerful and wealthy of Italy, the individuals who not only view themselves as above the law but, to a certain extent, are above it.Brunetti gave another small smile, "...we need...a list of Signor Trevisan's clients...""I want you to bear in mind that these are not the sort of people who are usually subject to a police investigation."Under ordinary circumstances, Brunetti would have remarked that, except for the last few years, the police had been investigating little except "people like these,"...Brunetti must work against the criminals, his sycophantic superior and corrupt fellow officers to try to unravel the mystery of a series of murders. In the end, he succeeds in understanding what happened and curtailing some portion of the larger problem. However, unlike the previous three books, this one does not provide a neat and satisfying ending; Leon's disenchantment with the crumbling world of her detective is felt much more strongly in this volume. Don't take this as a negative; I think the atmosphere of this story is deeper for it and I'm looking forward to reading the fifth volume.
    • 3/5
      The same formula as the other books about commissario Brunetti. But it works. Nice reading for a day by the sea (Port Alcudia, Mallorca in my case)
    • 5/5
      Venice, Italy, murder, murder-investigation, political-corruption, family-dynamics, friendship, trafficking*****This time Brunetti not only has to work on murders but also fraud, trafficking, his own family, and overweening superiors. A disturbing tale with a similar attitude to Commissario Montalbano of Sicily.Narrator David Colacci has the trick of using American standard Italian and Sicilian accents to differentiate the multiple male characters down to a science. Bravissimo!
    • 5/5
      It started with a deadly trucking accident in a sudden snow storm, in the mountains in the Italy-Austria border. The driver lost control on the curves and the truck left the road. The cargo was listed as pine boards, but what was found were women.Next up, was the murdered body of well-known international law, Avvocato Carlo Trevisian, on his return train from his weekly meeting with a business associate. Brunetti is given this case, as he is just closing up his last case. Trevisian is a high profile person, and the Mayor wants immediate results.Brunetti understands the mayor’s want, but he doesn’t jump on assumptions. He is a native of Venice and knows there are many intricacies to life in Venice — layers hiding layers. To get to the real truth, the layers must be peeled back one by one.I enjoy the Brunetti series. It isn’t a slam-bang tale. People, behaviours, and situations all need to be looked at and considered. A little bit of mental exercise is needed.
    • 5/5
      An exploration of Darkness. Brunetti’s investigation of a series of merders draws him into the world of prostitution and darkness surrounding it. The city of Venice remains a character but is more in the background, while Brunetti’s family plays a more central role. Italian government is shown in a dark light. The working out of the mystery is a surprise with a dark twist.
    • 4/5
      Dark and sad....Brunetti's daughter figures into this story in a very sad way, shows the evil of some humans.
    • 4/5
      Donna Leon starts the roller coaster ride right from the beginning in this novel. This is the first book I've read in the Commissario Guido Brunetti series, but it won't be my last. The action carried through most of the book. There were very few parts that dragged and even those moved quickly. The content of this novel is tough to read, so be aware if you have triggers.my thoughts: Donna Leon starts the roller coaster ride right from the beginning in this novel. This is the first book I've read in the Commissario Guido Brunetti series, but it won't be my last. The action carried through most of the book. There were very few parts that dragged and even those moved quickly. The content of this novel is tough to read, so be aware if you have triggers.
    • 4/5
      Death and JudgementDonna Leon4th in the Commisario Brunetti series set in Venice, Italy.A prominent lawyer is murdered, executio-style, on the train coming home to Venice from Padova. In the midst of the ever-growing corruption scandals in the Italian government, a very successful accountant from Padova, connectedted with teh Ministry of Health, appears to have committed suicide; everyone assumes that this is in connection with the scandals involving the Ministry but the Padova police have evidence that it was really murder. Finally the lawyer’s brother-in-law is murdered. though Brunetti is convinced that all three deaths are related, but the only connection he has is a phone number of a sleazy bar in Mestre, a town just outside of Venice on the mainland.Leon has described this book as her angriest, and it is easy to see why. She nearly always illuminates some social injustice or ugly facet of Italian or Venetian life in her books, and this one involves the world-wide trade in women for the purposes of prostitution. to go further would be to give away the plot; in itself, it’s a very good police procedural, but leon uses the story to bring out truly horrifying facts about the extent of this slave trade. Yet, she is so skillful a writer that it never sounds preachy, but unfolds from Brunetti’s investigation.As is typical of Leon’s books, her characterizations are the best part, especially true in this book of the one-timers. Brunetti and his family--especially his 14 year old daughter Chiara in this book--continue to deepen and therefore continue to engage the reader’s interest in this very real (and very Italian) family. Leon’s love for Venice, always shining out through Brunetti, is obvious, no matter how grim the political or social picture is; the city enchants.Another excellent member of the series. Highly recommended.
    • 4/5
      A truck meets with a terrible accident in the snowy Dolomites, and spilling out of it's bowels among the cargo of wood are also strange mannequins... but the mannequins are bleeding, which must mean they are real women. The horror of this accident is only a small presage of more to come. Commissario Guido Brunetti is put on the case of the murder of a prominent lawyer, shot dead on an intercity train. Then an accountant and business associate of the lawyer also turns up dead, and Brunetti starts suspecting the connection might be an international prostitution ring. His 14-year-old daughter Chiara offers her help as an apprentice investigator; she's been to school with the murdered lawyer's daughter and may be able to unearth some clues. But no one is prepared for the extent of the horror she uncovers in the process, least of all Chiara herself, and Brunetti can't forgive himself for unwittingly exposing his beloved daughter to such monstrous crimes. I’ve read several novels in the series before and knew that Leon tends to combine an insider's view of Venice and the comforts of the inspector's home life with the vilest of crimes and conspiracies, but the nature of one of the crimes committed against women in this particular instance were so evil that I was quite shocked. But in the end, Brunetti is a man with a conscience and in comforting his daughter, he also comforts his reader; heinous crimes won't go away, but love and kindness are also here to stay. Recommended, but this ones necessitates a solid stomach.
    • 5/5
      For those of you who follow Donna Leon's Venetian detective, this is an older one in the series, but you can be sure it's full of the warmth and horror of all the others. If you aren't familiar with Guido Brunetti, his co-workers and his family, you'll love getting to know this series of mysteries set in Venice. It's always about the politics and it's always about the corruption, but somehow, Brunetti always figures it out.This is not a cozy mystery, the crimes are vicious and venal. Women are brought to Venice to ply their trade on the streets. Few of them knew what they were getting into. Guido is assigned to solve the murder of a prominent and 'clean' lawyer. By the time he's done, even he's shocked by what he's learned. I recommend this book, and the series to anyone who likes a little cynicism with their justice.