Rating: 
Summary: Mystery, suspense, and atmosphere
Review:
This is the first book of The Commissario Guido Brunetti Mystery Series as well as the authors debut. It's a really excellent book with lots of mystery, suspense, and atmosphere. She bulid up such atmosphare so the Commissario almost have to share the lead character role with the city.
Rating: 
Summary: Nice athmosphere, but no thrill
Review: A fameous conducter, Mr Wellauer, dies during one of his presentations in „La fenice", the opera of Venice. Vice comissario Brunetti gets this case, and finds out that it was cyanide, that killed Wellauer. So Brunetti has to interview the people who knew him, but there are a lot of suspects.I think that DEATH AT LA FENICE is a quite boring book. Why ? During the hole book, there's only the view of Guido Brunetti. The result is that you see only the very slow progress in the case. And there's no action too. Altough I think that Donna Leon created a very nice athmosphere (e.g. when Brunetti is walking around Venice) and shows a realistic picture of the man Brunetti, DEATH AT LA FENICE is a thriller with no thrill. Peace to the world, Ricardo „Double P" Angeli
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent
Review: An excellent, sophisticated mystery. A "who-dun-it" in the truest sense: the characters and their characters formed the "action" which I found very engrossing. It was a real "page turner" while in "slow, elegant motion." The ending was quite satisfying on many levels and appropriate for the tone of the book. My only question for thought is: how necessary was Venice for the story? Could Paris, Munich, (Los Angeles?) tell the same story - with the same conclusion? I wish it were easier to get more of Ms. Leon's works!
Rating:
Summary: Waiting For Guido
Review: At the start of this story someone dies. Then nothing happens for 278 pages except for an endless series of interviews by police detective Guido Brunetti. We are waiting for Guido to deduce the true facts of the case. This is the kind of mystery that is either excellent or no good at all. It is the kind of mystery that people who don't like mysteries think all mysteries are like. This mystery is in the excellent category. If you love Venice, as I do. I lived for 3 years in Aviano north of Venice and fell instantly in love with Venice. The hero of this book is Venice. Each page lives and breaths Venice. The smells, the sounds, the language, the fog, the people - it's all in the novel. The book took me back to Venice and I enjoyed every minute. Donna Leon is a fine writer. If she would develop an action hero like Sue Grafton or Judith Van Gieson, I think she would become a best selling author. As it is, she's like an absolutely perfect one-carat diamond: small but exceptional and highly valuable. If you love Venice, you'll enjoy this book even if you don't like mysteries.
Rating: 
Summary: Little action
Review: Death at la Fenice is a realistic written roman without any wild action scenes. A famous conductor called Wellauer has been poisoned during a performance of „La Traviata". Commmissario of the police Guido Brunetti tries to find the murderer. He has to remark that this famous conductor made a lot of enemies on his way to the top and it's Brunettis Job to now find the one who has motive enough to kill Wellauer. This part of the book is a little bit long and without any new actions that happens. There are lots of interview that Commissario Bruntetti has to make and nothing else happens than that they speak to each other. It seems to be quite boring for people who want to be leaded through a thrilled story, but the book is written very exactly so you can follow Commissario Brunetti on his way to find the murderer, and with a little bit of fantasy you can make yourself a thrilled story out of this book. Death at la Fenice is a police-story with much atmosphere but little action and thrill. Pascal Remund
Rating:
Summary: short on action, long on atmosphere (I LOVE IT)
Review: Donna Leon has star status in the german speaking countries. Probably because there always was a certain affinity for Italy, but also because Venice IS a very interesting city. ("all cities are the same, only Venice is a little different", Friedrich Torberg, "Die Tante Jolesch"). Next to Commisario Brunetti the city itself stars in a narrative that captures the "look and feel" of a decaying city with a great past.
Rating:
Summary: The real Venice
Review: Donna Leon is a fantastic mystery writer: she not only spins a good tale, but her stories are filled with shrewd insights on modern life in Venice and Italy. I have read all her books, but DEATH AT LA FENICE is one of my favorites. That's what I've done. Don't miss a volume; they are all superb.
Rating:
Summary: a powerful start to a great series
Review: Donna Leon is an American writer who lives in Venice, and "death at Le Fenice" is the first in her wonderful series of Comissario Brunetti mystery novels. At the center of the series Brunetti is an intensely likeable, complex and believable character, and this craftsmanship of characters is true for the whole book. A famous maestro is murdered at the Venice opera house and behind the facade of a near-perfect public figure Brunettti begins to find and fear some very dark and intriguing aspects of the maestros life that are "molto agitato" and shocking. The storyline is very inventive, yet not contrived. What sets Leon apart from many other American writers trying their hand at European scenarios is that she really understands her location and the culture very well. Her backdrops and storylines are well-researched and full of athmospheric density. A great read that will get you hooked for more
Rating:
Summary: a powerful start to a great series
Review: Donna Leon is an American writer who lives in Venice, and "death at Le Fenice" is the first in her wonderful series of Comissario Brunetti mystery novels. At the center of the series Brunetti is an intensely likeable, complex and believable character, and this craftsmanship of characters is true for the whole book. A famous maestro is murdered at the Venice opera house and behind the facade of a near-perfect public figure Brunettti begins to find and fear some very dark and intriguing aspects of the maestros life that are "molto agitato" and shocking. The storyline is very inventive, yet not contrived. What sets Leon apart from many other American writers trying their hand at European scenarios is that she really understands her location and the culture very well. Her backdrops and storylines are well-researched and full of athmospheric density. A great read that will get you hooked for more
Rating:
Summary: A wonderfully evocative mystery set in Venice.
Review: For all those who love Venice and mysteries here is another entry in the Guido Brunetti series. This time a famous but arrogant maestro is killed in the dressing room of Venice's La Fenice opera house. As always the scenes of Brunetti's family life are fascinating and Venice itself becomes a character in the novel. This one is probably the best in the series. The solution is ingenious and came as quite a surprise in its psychological underpinings.
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