Blood from a Stone

This book was listed as being in like new condition. And for the most part it is. Except the dust jacket has small chips and tears all along the edges along with curling. Perhaps it should have been listed as very good. Otherwise, no complaints. Shipping was fast and packaging was good

I read Fire at the Fenice and found it acceptable but not inspiring enough to continue the series. Now, with the Blood from a Stone, Ms. Leon hits hard at the situation of African immigrants in a society unaccustomed to other cultures and races. There was a NYTimes piece by the Italian author, Saviano, re the African rioting against the Mafia in the Naples area. He called it a 'fight for rights' rather than accede to the mafia as home grown Italians do or leave as they can afford to do it. This connects well with Ms. Leon's thriller. As a Greek, I found it especially interesting since we, too, are not accustomed to non-caucasians in our country. The shanty town, the hard work, the servitude into which some are forced is all the same. I see the police chasing the handbag salesmen in Athens more as a joke and a way to grab handbags for themselves, it seems. They look like healthy, bright young men. What a shame they cannot find a place more suitable for their talents and to fulfill their dreams of economic security. Thanks, Ms. Leon, for bringing this topic to the great public with your thriller. I'm inspired to try other works by her now. Demetra Athanasopoulou

I like Blood from a Stone for a lot of reasons. I think it has one of the best story lines in any of this series. But Leon's telling of the immigrant story in contemporary italy was even more interesting. The book starts off with the brutal slaying of an African immigrant selling high fashion knock offs to tourists in a well known Venice campo. Of course, this has all the marks of an investigation that could harm the tourist trade, and so Commissario Brunetti's lizard like boss, Vice-Questore Patta wants it buried, pronto. Instead Brunetti investigates, and what seems to be a puzzling murder of a poor immigrant suddenly involves a rich trove of precious gems of dubious origin and a high level scandal in the Italian government. Leon seemed to be really on when she wrote this book. The plot line doesn't lose pace, there are surprises around every corner, and what begins as a senseless crime perpetrated on a 'nobody' suddenly becomes something much bigger. Readers of the series can count on Leon to dish out charming vignettes of the Brunetti's family life and some great descriptions of Venice street life. What really sets this story apart aside from the plot is how well Leon draws the politics of the Questura . Recommended highly.

Books full of psychology and verbal sparring rather than action benefit from being listened to rather than read. The professional reader (or author) is able to use timing, pace, and pauses to bring inaction to life and invite you deeper inside the mind of the narrator. I found that David Collaci's reading of Blood from a Stone upgraded this book from a four-star effort as a personal read into a five-star listening experience through the unabridged CD. The main character in Blood from a Stone isn't Commissario Guido Brunetti, but rather the city of Venice. If you know and love Venice, you'll add one star to your experience with this book or CD by being reminded of your great experiences there. The book is a near-literary-quality novel, even though portrayed in a police procedural format. Ms. Leon is much more interested in having your think about what it means to be a good human than in intriguing you with her mystery and exciting you with her plot. The book raises fundamental questions about our connections to every other person on the planet, our colleagues, friends, loved ones, and family members. Although the book will seem preachy at times about one view or another, Ms. Leon leaves plenty of room for you to draw your own conclusions. But you'll definitely find your sensitivity honed as you think about more dimensions of relations with others . . . and their consequences for you and others. As the book opens, two assassins stalk and kill an illegal street vendor who is a black African. The police don't rush to the scene and don't find any helpful information to identify the man. Commissario Brunetti makes slow progress through a combination of Signorina Ellatra's computer and persuasive skills, his own snooping around, and Sgt. Vianello's willingness to provide loyal shoe leather and silence. A visit to the abode of the victim yields more clues, but no identity. The clues raise disturbing questions that don't belong in a police investigation. Soon, Vice-Questore Patta is telling Brunetti that he should go through the motions and not find the killer. The pressure to ignore the killing grows. Brunetti plays along while pursuing a hidden investigation that features his trustworthy colleagues, friends, and family in off-the-record activities. Why is the fix in? Brunetti can only speculate until late in the story. The book's conclusion leaves Brunetti with an interesting dilemma, one that you should think about as though it were your own before you find out what Brunetti does. The strength of this book is in its superb portrayal of the ambivalent attitudes and relationships among the illegal African street vendors, the police, the vendors' customers, ordinary citizens, and the vendors' landlords. Ms. Leon does a wonderful job of getting across the full range of perspectives and experiences. Ultimately, she wants you to decide what the crimes are and who the criminals are in the illegal set-up from a moral rather than a j

Donna Leon is a master at delineating the corruption of the Venetian social system all the while giving her protagonist, Commissario Guide Brunetti, depth and humanity. His family comes alive in her books, particularly his wife, Paola. This is perhaps her richest book. She gives the refugee problem a thorough look and although has no answers to the issue, gives you plenty of room to think about it. Leon never insults her readers with pat answers. An African street vendor is killed...shot down while pushing his wares outside normal work hours. You know, of course, that he is an illegal émigré and so does Brunetti. He struggles to solve the slaying against the wishes of his higher-ups who force him to work on the case surreptitiously. An interesting metaphor that parallels the plight of the illegal vendors. Highly recommended.

Donna Leon's 14th Guido Brunetti mystery novel explores contemporary issues in Italy and the magical city of Venice. She skillfully uses her good Commissario, his family, and his colleagues to make political and social statements about Italy and global problems. The story begins with the execution-style murder of an illegal African street vendor in a busy Venetian campo while he was attempting to sell his fake designer handbags to a group of American tourists. (An African street seller is called a vú cumprá, which is an Italian slang term for you wanna buy? -- the official and more PC Italian term is extracomunitario.) Commissario Brunetti, called to investigate the killing, realizes just how little he knows about these illegal street sellers -- where they're from, how they got to Italy, where they live, how they survive. With the help of his loyal sidekick Vianello, and the stunning, computer savvy Signorina Elettra, he gets a foothold on the case when he locates where the victim lived. He finds some critical evidence in the vú cumprá's apartment, but doesn't report it because he doesn't trust it in the hands of the police hierarchy. Just when he is making progress on the case, Vice Questore Patta, Brunetti's annoying, slow-witted boss, orders him to stop the investigation which has been taken over by not one but two Italian ministries in Rome. Naturally, Brunetti, determined to find out what is behind all this intrigue, disobeys and has to tap into his connected and powerful father-in-law, Count Falier, in his search for answers. The book is set at Christmas time in Venice. Leon describes the seasonal festivities in marvelous detail. As always, Brunetti's wife Paola and kids Chiara and Raffi get a fair amount of stage time. We join them for gourmet lunches and dinners, go Christmas shopping with them, and witness major disagreements between mother and daughter. Leon is sympathetic to the plight of the vú cumprá and to the misfortunes of Africa. As usual, American tourists and the corrupt Italian bureaucracy come under here critical gaze. In Blood from a Stone, we are introduced to some interesting characters -- Claudio Stein, who was close to Brunetti's father during and after World War II; Don Alvise, a socially active ex-priest who left the church because of disagreements on giving assistance to African immigrants; Renato Sandrini, a resentful criminal defense attorney who owes Brunetti some favors and is married to the daughter of a local mafia don; and, Azir Mahani, an Iranian immigrant teenager who is Chiara's new friend. This book is a must read. Donna Leon is such a marvelous writer.