Through a Glass Darkly cover art

Through a Glass Darkly

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About this listen

A luminous spring day in Venice, and Commissario Brunetti and his sidekick Vianello play hooky from the Questura along the Grand Canal to rescue Vianello's friend Marco, who has been arrested during an environmental protest. They get him released, only to be faced by the fury of the man's father-in-law, who owns a glass factory on Murano. The old man is seething with rage, and his daughter shares her fear with Brunetti that he will actually hurt her husband.

But it is not Marco who has uncovered the guilty secret of the glass foundries, nor he whose body is found lying in front of the furnaces which burn at 1400 degrees C. night and day. The victim has left clues in a copy of Dante and Brunetti must enter an inferno to discover who is burning the land and fouling the waters of Venice's lagoon. A man is dead - but will politics and expedience prevent the killer from striking again?

 Crime Thrillers Mystery Police Procedural Suspense Thriller & Suspense Fiction Rage

Critic reviews

'Donna Leon's very successful Commissario Brunetti novels, set in Venice.... It would be simply perverse not to acknowledge the skill with which Leon has assembled these familiar elements... The reader comes to look forward to Paola's elegant Venetian lunches as much as Brunetti does...Comfort reading of the highest order.' TLS

'The fabulous Donna Leon' Antonia Fraser in the Spectator

'[Leon's] passion for all things Venetian - churches, palaces, statues and especially the food - comes over loud and clear whenever Brunetti steps from his apartment into the street... No one writes about the grey areas of life better.' Guardian

'Donna Leon has a wonderful feel for the hidden evils that lie below the façade of the magical city' The Times
'The thoughtful and charming [Brunetti] is on top form... His nicely balanced world...is cumulatively engrossing. In this domestic detail, Leon roots the power of the ordinary, moral individual.' Sunday Times
All stars
Most relevant
The story is great. I prefer a couple of the other narrators, but that is perhaps mainly because I'm more used to them. Also, being English I tend to find listening to an English narrator more enjoyable than an American voice.

The narrator is not the best to listen to

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Story - as usual - very good, but the voices given to the characters are very poor

Poor impressions of characters

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The accent used by the American narrator for the Venetian speakers is a weird exaggeration of a vaguely Mediterranean/south American mix. Really super off putting. I can't listen to it

So disappointing

Narration

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