Acqua Alta: A Commissario Guido Brunetti Mystery

By Donna Leon

As Venice braces for a winter tempest, Commissario Guido Brunetti, Donna Leon's intrepid Italian sleuth, finds out that an old friend has been savagely beaten at the palazzo home of reigning diva Flavia Petrelli. Then, as the flood waters rise, a corpse is discoveredand Brunetti must wade through the chaotic city to solve his deadliest case yet. Sinister and exotic, Acqua Alta is another chilling addition to Donna Leon's best-selling series.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Grove Press
• Release date: Jan 27, 2009
• ISBN: 9781555848958

Reviews for Acqua Alta

[quondame · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Not much of a mystery, and strangely this features two of the same characters as the only other Donna Leon I've read to date. It's interesting to spend time in Venice and learn about Chinese Pottery, art theft, and the north ward spread of thuggery.

[cbl_tn · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Although Venice's Commissario Brunetti doesn't normally handle robberies, he manages to get himself assigned to the case of Dr. Brett Lynch, who was severely beaten in her home. Brunetti had met Dr. Lynch several years earlier when he investigated the death of a conductor at La Fenice. Dr. Lynch is an expert in Chinese antiquities. She has come to Venice to meet with the director of a museum that had hosted an exhibition of Chinese antiquities several years earlier. The loaned pieces were in her care, and she has recently discovered that the pieces that were loaned were not the pieces that were returned.This book is a bit different than the previous books in the series since Brunetti is assisting a living victim. Brunetti spends a lot of time with Dr. Lynch and her partner, opera diva Flavia Petrelli, and the three of them work together to solve the crime. Seasonal flooding (“acqua alta”) provides a backdrop for the story, with the cold water encroaching into the lower levels of many homes. This is the most tightly plotted of the books to this point in the series, with Brunetti spending most of his time investigating the crime (when he wasn't battling the flood waters to get to his next interview). I found that I missed his family time and Paola's insightful comments that trigger connections that help Brunetti make progress in whatever case he's working on.

[thornton37814 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Brunetti recognizes a name when when looking over the crime report. He visits Brett Lynch, who first appeared in Death at La Fenice as an American with expertise in Chinese antiquities who is the homosexual lover of singer Flavia Petrelli, as the beaten victim in what is assumed to be a robbery gone awry. The thugs warn her not to visit a museum director who turns up dead soon afterwards. Venice is suffering flooding during the installment which adds to the atmosphere and provides an interesting twist in some of the action. The mystery is well-done, compelling readers to stick with the story. I missed a bit of the canal travel and family and food normally featured in the series, but the plot made up for it in other way.

[cyderry · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The 5th installment of Donna Leon's Commissario Brunetti series returns characters from the first book of the series to the beautiful Venetian setting and then makes it turn ugly with a vicious beating and death threats. Guido Brunetti realizes that a friend, Brett Lynch, an archeologist that specializes in Chinese ceramics, has return when he is presented with a report about the vicious assault by men, putting her in the hospital. He gathers information about the beating which was a warning for her to avoid a meeting with the Museum director in Venice, Semenzato. When he is found dead in his office, Brunetti, starts to piece together an intricately woven conspiracy surrounding theft and substitution of rare art objects.Guido's determination to protect his friend and to identify the perpetrators, is documented with the backdrop of the rain season which brings the "high water" (acqua alta) through which Brunetti was wade to find all the clues that finally lead him to the answers he seeks.If only the real world mysteries could be solved in the same manner by policemen like Commissario Guido Brunetti who often disregards the method of gaining information so that justice can be achieved. I am really looking forward to the next installment.

[tututhefirst_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Much has already been written about this ongoing and charming series. Commissario Guido Brunetti and his wife Paola (a college English professor) are urbane, educated, sophisticated and have inherited wealth. Their enjoyment of literature, good wine, travel, and opera adds a degree of sophistication one doesn't always find in the ordinary gumshoe series. At the same time, Brunetti has to deal with an pompous 'if it's not my idea it won't work' boss who wants to know everything, take credit for everything good and who disavows anything that goes wrong; two teen-aged off-spring (who needs to say more?) and the Italian criminal justice system, which does not always work the way the ethical Brunetti would like it too. Guido is too much the practical Italian though to let little things like disregard for the law get in his way.This episode concerns a ring of antiques dealers/museum curators who are not happy when their theft of precious art objects and substitution of fakes is discovered by an American professor. The subsequent crime spree that follows as they try to rid themselves of witnesses and evidence is set against the background of the "Acqua Alta"--a periodic Venetian weather phenomenon that occurs when the rains and winds combine with high tides to produce floods of various heights, making getting around the city difficult if not impossible.As she tells the story, Leon weaves into the plot the antipathy of Venetians for southern Italians, the homophobia of Italian males towards two of the women in the story, and every parent's fears of discovering a teenager who may be engaging in unhealthy/illegal activity. Nothing more to say---I don't want to spoil it.

[jennorthcoast · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Another great Brunetti adventure, with two strong female characters (well, with his wife and daughter, four) from the first novel returning for intrigue in the art/archaeology world. Another must read.

[talbin_3 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Acqua Alta is the fifth in Donna Leon's series featuring Commissario Guido Brunetti, a Venetian police detective. Brunetti discovers that a friend, archaeologist and Chinese ceramics expert Brett Lynch, has been savagely beaten and is in the hospital. He visits Brett and her lover, opera diva Flavia Petrelli, in the hospital and discovers that, during the beating, Brett was warned not to keep her meeting with Venetian museum Director, Semenzato. When Semenzato is found dead, killed with an ancient brick, Brunetti begins to piece together a mystery surrounding stolen artifacts, sold on the black market in Italy and around the world.In many ways, Acqua Alta is the most "traditional" of the series to date - a real page turner. The ever-present Italian corruption is present, but mostly as background. Venice is again a major character, but this time is more sinister, as the cold flood waters rise and fall, creating obstacles and ambiance that gives the story a creepier feeling than earlier works. It's nice to see Brett Lynch and Flavia Petrelli again - they were featured in Death at La Fenice and are the primary characters (along with Brunetti) in this book. Overall, a great entry in the Brunetti series.

[dianaleez · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Leon's Brunetti stories are consistently good. Venice and Venetian food are the stars, with the Brunetti family a close third. The detective element isn't bad either.

[crazeedi73 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The best Brunetti book so far, looking forward to the next one

[mamzel_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is the second book of the Commissario Guido Brunetti series that I have read (not the second book of the series, however). One of the things I really enjoy about this book is the wonderful family life that Guido enjoys. I also enjoyed that he did not always follow police procedure. This happened at a point in the book when I found myself wishing that, with all the corruption of the Italian police forces, our hero might have a little misbehavior up his sleeve.I also liked that the main characters also included a pair of lesbians portrayed as very talented and devoted in a country where homosexuality is not accepted.What I did not enjoy, is feeling like an outsider sometimes when Italian words weren't translated for the reader. At one point a line from an opera was quoted and it felt like it was assumed the reader would know what it meant and how it pertained to the story. It felt like I was being left out of a joke.And, after reading this book, I really have no desire to visit Venice as spring floods matched with cold miserable weather do not paint an attractive picture.

[francescadefreitas · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Of all the books I've read so far in this series, this was the most like a thriller, with a sense of real, immediate danger. Brett Lynch is an interesting and sympathetic character, and I was glad to encounter her and Flavia again.

[tripleblessings_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is the 5th book in the series, first published in 1996. A winter storm causes flooding in Venice. Opera singer Flavia Petrelli appears in this book, who was involved in the first Brunetti mystery, Death at La Fenice. Her lover Brett, an American expert on ancient Chinese ceramics, has been badly beaten at her home. Then a corpse is discovered as the annual flood waters rise. Brunetti must wade through the city to sort out the tangled cases of murder, assault and international art forgeries. Highly recommended.

[cdagulleiro · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Entertaining mistery series where, as many others, the charm of the book is actually the descriptions of the society and the feelings of the city. Is also interesting that Donna Leon seems to have banned the book of being translated into italian. She is very critical about corruption in Italy. Excellent book to read on a rainy day.

[waldhaus1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Ms Leone had achieved a new and richer level of character development and story. Even the character of Venice is presented in a richer and subtler way. A brief incident when Brunetti fears his son is injecting himself with illegal drugs amplifies his humanity. The reader ends up feeling a deeper familiarity with everyone involved in the book.

[memccauley6 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This wasn’t a great mystery, but I enjoyed (most of) it. Once again, Commissario Guido Brunetti of the Venice Questura takes a backseat to the city of Venice itself. In this outing, he must track down a murderer after illegal antiquities in the midst of the city’s winter flooding.

In a country rife with corruption and bureaucratic nonsense, the police must break the rules to get the bad guys, indeed the rules must be ‘bent’ to accomplish anything at all. Leon paints a very revealing (and frankly, unflattering) portrait of paranoid, corrupt and homophobic Italians. The mystery is doled out at a slow pace, a reader more interested in straight-up murder-mystery action will quickly lose interest

If you like learning about different cultures and stories about the illegal antiquities trade – you MUST read Tony Hillerman’s books - try A Thief of Time.

[ecw0647 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I really like Donna Leon. I hope she continues to write forever. Her books are always literate and interesting with marvelous characters. The plots are intricate even if her view of Italian society is dark indeed. For example, in Acqua Alta, a woman is seriously beaten by some thugs. Her partner calls for an ambulance, but she is told there are two people ahead of her and she must be placed on a waiting list. Sorry. Once in the hospital every palm must be greased just to get the sheets changed. Corruption is rampant.
Amidst this corruption, Commisario Guido Brunetti, and his wife, Paola, struggle to remain honest and raise their children. They have a wonderful relationship -- “the radar of a long marriage” -- and Paola provides a nice contretemps to Guido. Leon, who has taught English for many years at University of Maryland extension campus at the U.S. Army's Vicenza (Italy) post, has lived many years in Italy, speaks the language fluently, and captures the nuances of the people and of daily life in Venice.
Acqua Alta refers to the seasonal high water in Venice when the tides flood large sections of the city. Sirens wail before the expected onrush and everyone must wear boots to get around in water that can be knee-deep. The city is always slow to erect the boards that people must traverse to avoid the water (I’m reading a book about Venice that discusses the future of the city -- more in a later issue). The high water and muck it brings provides a thread that nicely parallels the difficulties Guido faces during this investigation.
Flavia Petrelli, an opera singer, and her lover, Brett Lynch, an American archaeologist, return from a previous novel, Death at La Fenice Brett was beaten up as a warning not to meet with the director of a famous art museum (later murdered) and Guido must sort out a series of events in the underbelly of the art world related to an archaeological dig in China. Lurking behind everything is the dampness and the cold fog that seeps into all the old crusty buildings. Guido always solves the crimes, but the guilty often, because of the corruption and their connections, remain unpunished. Unusually, in this one, Guido arrives in time before the tragedy.

[joycepa_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Acqua AltaDonna Leon5th in the Commisario Brunetti series, set in Venice Italy.It’s winter in Venice, and the seasonal rains bring with them the threat of flooding, or acqua alta--high water. After waking during the night to the sirens announcing the threat, Brunetti discovers by accident that a friend, Brett Lynch, has been savagely beaten as a warning to avoid meeting with the director of the museum located in the Ducal Palace; 5 years previously, Brett had supervised an exhibition of priceless ancient Chinese ceramics at the museum and had returned to talk with the Director, Semenzato. Then Semenzato is murdered as well. Brunetti’s investigation leads to a wealthy Sicilian who has recently purchased and restored a palazzo not far from where Brunetti himself lives; La Capra is also a lover of classical music and a collector of ceramics.This is one of the best of the series, my personal favorite, as it has a faced-paced plot and the denouement is the most terrifying in all of Leon’s books; it literally becomes a page-turner, which is rare in this series which depends on strong writing, local ambience, and outstanding characterizations for its strength. The story reunites Brunetti with two fine characters from the first book, Death at La Fenice, the American archeologist Lynch and her diva lover, the soprano Flavia Petrellis; the latter takes a far more prominent role in this book than she did in the first and adds greatly to the strength of the plot.As in every book, Leon does not rest just on the local color of Venice (following the action through the neighborhoods of Venice on GoogleEarth is really fun), but also weaves in seamlessly the social and political situations in the city, providing an excellent view of Italian life.An superb installment in the series. Highly recommended.