Teaser Tuesday: Death in a Strange Country

"It would have been easy for Brunetti to grow indifferent to the beauty of the city, to walk in the midst of it, looking and not really seeing.  But then it always happened: a window he had never noticed before would swim into his ken, or the sun would gleam in an archway, and he would actually feel his heart tighten in response to something infinitely more complex than beauty."

-- Death in a Strange Country (1993) by Donna Leon. This is the second in Leon's Commissario Guido Brunetti mystery series set in Venice. 

 

Leon does a good but not great job of using the spectacular setting.  She has a few passages of soaring praise, like this one, throws in a lot of place names, and makes a few generalities about the people of the city, but she could do more.  Hopefully the later books in the series will better capture the spirit of the place.

Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by Should Be Reading, where you can find the official rules for this weekly event.

Opening Sentence of the Day: Death in a Strange Country

"The body floated face down in the murky water of the canal."

-- Death in a Strange Country (1993) by Donna Leon.

This is the second in Leon's Commissario Guido Brunetti mystery series set in Venice.  I read the first, Death at La Fenice (1992), several years ago, but the series has only recently caught my attention again.

Venice is such a magical city.  I go through periods of enthrallment with Venice, which don't necessarily correspond to actual visits and usually only lead to extensive periods of armchair travel. 

I think I will make a list of Venice books. At the top will go The World of Venice by Jan Morris, still my favorite "travel" book ever, more of a biography of a city.

Any other suggestions?