So Shall You Reap

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Atmospheric, clever, witty and amusing. If I were only allowed to read one crime series again it would be that of Donna Leon.' The Times As a young woman, Leon taught English abroad in places like the Middle East and China. She delighted in experiencing foreign cultures, which gave her the desire to travel regularly and explore the world around her. It was when she accompanied her friend on a trip to Naples, Italy, that she felt truly at home and did not want to leave. This led to further exploration of the country and falling in love with the very same Venice where she eventually relocated and set her iconic series.

On a cold November evening, Guido Brunetti and Paola are up late when a call from his colleague Ispettore Vianello arrives, alerting the Commissario that a hand has been seen in one of Venice’s canals. The body is soon found, and Brunetti is assigned to investigate the murder of an undocumented Sri Lankan immigrant. Because no official record of the man’s presence in Venice exists, Brunetti is forced to use the city’s far richer sources of information: gossip and the memories of people who knew the victim. Curiously, he had been living in a small house on the grounds of a palazzo owned by a university professor, in which Brunetti discovers books revealing the victim’s interest in Buddhism, the revolutionary Tamil Tigers, and the last crop of Italian political terrorists, active in the 1980s. There is no better literary tour guide to Venice and the surrounding landscape than Leon, and each entry provides complex, memorable characters and storylines that touch the moral center of the human spirit . . . So Shall You Reap is authentic throughout and lives up to the lofty reputation that Donna Leon has rightly earned for this series, which never fails to enlighten with each new intriguing mystery.”— Book Reporter

What is unsettling is that Guido spoke to the man only the day before his death, while trying to do his father-in-law a favour. Those who know Inesh Kavinda well pronounce him a good, kind man, so Guido is puzzled to find “the books he’d seen on the shelves: they were morally at odds with the man described to him” on topics like the Tamil Tigers and the Italian terrorists of the 1980s. As the author reaches her 9th decade [this makes] for a fascinating insight into her life and world, albeit with discretion and leaving tantalising hints at what lies beyond. One for the fans (and friends).’ Crime Time While in Venice, Leon became enamored of the gondola as a form of transportation. It’s no coincidence that Guido Brunetti often finds himself on a gondola when traveling from the Questura to various crime scenes. Leon wrote an amusing letter that is still posted at the local Questura to travelers hoping to meet her fictional detective. I would give anything to be able to experience this! Mystery novelist Donna Leon continues the long tradition of foreigners writing about Venice. No other city has been so celebrated by its expatriate writers and visitors, from Ruskin’s glittery tributes to Henry James’s hesitant adoration to Thomas Mann’s fatal seduction. But Commissario Brunetti is not a foreigner, so his Venice illuminates the paradox of living in the world’s most beautiful urban setting built—not just on water—on danger and menace. From his first walk in the prize winning 1992 Death at La Fenice he never forgets her past glory nor ignores her diminished present. With these twin views his every walk through the city creates a richly layered vision.

Every profession leads to deformation,” writes Donna Leon in her memoir “Wandering Through Life.” She adds: “mine is crime.” The novelist then proceeds to come clean about the way her fertile imagination runs wild, turning innocent scenarios into fantasies of wrongdoing. For 30 years Leon lived in Venice. She now lives in Switzerland and the reason for this move is given in this memoir. In any event, we learn a little of her relatives-someone who seemed a little quirky in an interesting way, more about her love of opera and tennis and some about her love of literature. She seems skilled in many areas of life. Wandering Through Life,” by Donna Leon, is marketed as a memoir. However, it is actually a collection of essays about such topics as Leon’s childhood, musical tastes, love of travel, and affinity for Venice, where she lived for three decades. Surprisingly, Leon says little about the series that made her famous—her thirty-two crime novels that feature the literate, compassionate, and insightful Commissario Guido Brunetti. On a cold November evening, Guido Brunetti and Paola are up late when a call from his colleague Ispettore Vianello arrives, alerting the Commissario that a hand has been seen in one of Venice’s canals. The body is soon found, and Brunetti is assigned to investigate the murder of an undocumented Sri Lankan immigrant. Because no official record of the man’s presence in Venice exists, Brunetti is forced to use the city’s far richer sources of information: gossip and the memories of people who knew the victim. Curiously, he had been living in a small house on the grounds of a palazzo owned by a university professor, in which Brunetti discovers books revealing the victim’s interest in Buddhism, the revolutionary Tamil Tigers, and the last crop of Italian political terrorists, active in the 1980s.Commissario Brunetti’s investigations place Donna Leon very high in the hierarchy of crime writing.” — Le Figaro (Paris) After university, Leon accepted teaching jobs in Iran, China and Saudi Arabia, eventually ending up at a United States army base situated an hour’s drive from Venice. For those who know Venice, or want to, Brunetti is a well-versed escort to the nooks, crannies, moods, and idiosyncrasies of what residents call La Serenissima, the Serene One . . . Richly atmospheric, [Leon] introduces you to the Venice insiders know. (USA Today)

Leon] has never become perfunctory, never failed to give us vivid portraits of people and of Venice, never lost her fine, disillusioned indignation.”— Ursula K. Le Guin, New York Times Donna Leon is the undisputed crime fiction queen . . . Leon’s ability to capture the social scene and internal politics [of Venice] is first-rate.”— Baltimore Sun When she discovered discovering that words could mean different things as opposed to objects which like a bicycle moves forward and a ball runs downhill she became enthralled with words. The annual release of the latest Donna Leon mystery featuring Commissario Guido Brunetti is always a treat I relish. There is no better literary tour guide to Venice and the surrounding landscape than Leon and each entry in this series provides complex, memorable characters and storylines that touch the moral center of the human spirit. I don't know if Leon will bring the pandemic into her next book, but here Venice is still okay, and this book has a lot less of the darkness--ecological woes and the Disneyfication of Venice--that most of her recent books have had. It has other dark themes, but not so much as to really send you reeling.The cases, while always intriguing, are almost secondary to the wonderful characterizations and musings and observations of life, especially Venetian life, by Brunetti. So nice to visit again with all the familiar actors, flamboyant Signora Elletra, strong and wise Paola, philosophical Guido, comical Patta, capable Griffoni, loyal Foa.

Following a childhood in the company of her New Jersey family, with frequent visits to her grandfather’s farm and its beloved animals, and summers spent selling homegrown tomatoes by the roadside, Leon got her first taste of the classical music and opera that would enrich her life. She also developed a yen for adventure. In 1976, she made the spontaneous decision to teach English in Iran, before finding herself swept up in the early days of the 1979 Revolution. After teaching stints in China and Saudi Arabia, she finally landed in Venice. Leon vividly animates her decades-long love affair with Italy, from her first magical dinner when serving as a chaperone to a friend, to the hunt for the perfect cappuccino, to the warfare tactics of grandmothers doing their grocery shopping at the Rialto Market.Compassionate yet incorruptible, Brunetti knows that true justice doesn’t always end in an arrest or a trial.”— Publishers Weekly