The Girl of His Dreams (A Commissario Guido Brunetti Mystery) | Donna Leon

The Girl of His Dreams (A Commissario Guido Brunetti Mystery) | Donna Leon | Another very good Brunetti novel

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The Girl of His Dr...

	The Girl of His Dreams (A Commissario Guido Brunetti Mystery) Donna Leon Atlantic Monthly Press, 2008 - 272 pages average customer review:based on 26 reviews view larger image
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Donna Leon?s Commissario Guido Brunetti mysteries have won legions of fans for their evocative portraits of Venetian life. In her novels, food, family, art, history, and local politics play as central a role as an unsolved crime. In The Girl of His Dreams when a friend of Brunetti?s brother, a priest recently returned from years of missionary work, calls with a request, Brunetti suspects the man?s motives. A new, American-style Protestant sect has begun to meet in the city, and it?s possible the priest is merely apprehensive of the competition. But the preacher could also be fleecing his growing flock, so Brunetti and Paola, along with Inspector Vianello and his wife, go undercover.

But the investigation has to be put aside when, one cold and rainy morning, a body is found floating in a canal. It is a child, a gypsy girl. Brunetti suspects she fell off a nearby roof while fleeing an apartment she had robbed. He has to inform the distrustful parents, encamped on the mainland, and soon finds himself haunted by the crime--and the girl. Thought-provoking, eye-opening, and profoundly moving, The Girl of His Dreams is classic Donna Leon, a spectacular, heart-wrenching addition to the series.

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All of Leon's books are wonderful reads, and THE GIRL OF HIS DREAMS stands tall among them.

THE GIRL OF HIS DREAMS is Donna Leon's 17th police procedural featuring Commissario Guido Brunetti, the warm-hearted cop who reads the classics and gets his greatest joy from his family. The novel opens upon a gloomy scene at a graveside service in honor of Guido's mother. With him are his wife, Paola, daughter Chiara and son Raffi. His brother, Sergio, and some of Sergio's children also represent the immediate family. As he stands there looking at the slash in the earth that will be his mother's resting place, Guido is flooded with sorrow and memories.

Monday is the day that Vice-Questore Giuseppe Patta, Guido's immediate superior, returns from a two-week conference in Berlin that focused on international police cooperation against the Mafia. Guido seeks the comfort of his office and is told that a priest has come to talk to him: "Padre Antonin was the priest who had given the final blessing over his mother's coffin; he was Sergio's friend and not his, [although] Guido had known Antonin for decades, since he and Sergio had been schoolboys. After middle school, the brothers had gone to different schools, and so Antonin fell out of Brunetti's orbit." As time went on, "Antonin decided to enter the seminary, and from there he'd gone to Africa as a missionary...and then, about four years ago, Antonin was back in Venice, working as a chaplain...and living with the Dominicans in their mother's house beside the Basilica."

Guido greets his old acquaintance with equanimity, and once the small talk fades, he asks the priest why he had come. Antonin answers the question by telling him a short story about one of his parishioners who has a son who seems headed for big trouble. This leads Guido to a gentleman named Brother Leonardo, whose surname is Mutti. He is selling himself as a spiritual father to a small gathering of people who call themselves "The Children of Jesus Christ" and are seeking "the answer." At his meetings he tells his flock that they have a duty to help the poor, and like lemmings they all give him money hidden inside their envelopes. Antonin would like information about this man, and Guido wants to know if he really is who he says he is.

Paola Brunetti is an educated woman who comes from a background of luxury and money. She teaches English literature and often guides her husband to books that may help him through a rough patch. Her mother, the Countess, is a charming lady with connections everywhere, especially in religious channels. Guido turns to the Countess for help in getting as much information as he can about Mutti.

Out of the blue, Guido is summoned by his blustering superior, Patta, for a discussion about being sensitive to the differences in people coming into Venice and to embrace their ways. He is referring specifically to the number of gypsies or, in PC language, the Rom. These groups use their children to steal from tourists and residents, and grab anything they can. They are bold and are rarely even taken in for questioning. Patta tries to be circumspect but is clumsy and power crazy. Soon after this dialogue with Patta, Guido and Paola have dinner with her parents. But the Countess says nothing of her inquiries, leaving Guido with a sense of ease, and he decides to let go of Antonin's request and move on with his work.

The next morning, Guido and his friend and colleague Vianello retrieve the body of a gypsy girl floating in a canal. No one reported a missing child or called to inquire if a 10-year-old girl had shown up anywhere. Meanwhile, the investigation moves on and takes several unexpected turns. Guido and Vianello are experienced detectives and have worked many cases involving children, but that doesn't make this one any easier. The idea of a dead child with no one to claim her eats at Guido, and soon he finds himself having nightmares about her and the crime. The most frustrating part about this case is that Guido knows to whom the child belongs. Nevertheless, he is helpless to do anything about it.

Donna Leon delivers a full-blown cast of well-limned characters who are consistently fresh and have interesting lives. The puzzles and conundrums she devises are always suspenseful, which makes for fast-paced reading.

Loyal fans have become very attached to Guido Brunetti and his family, as well as his colleagues. In each book the man transcends the petty nonsense of the workplace and is always aware of his responsibilities and how to prioritize them. He works to keep his loved ones safe, well, happy and together. After that he seeks justice for those who cannot speak for themselves. Here Leon gives him a wide berth, and he usually comes up with the right answer, either by himself or through intimate conversations with Paola. All of Leon's books are wonderful reads, and THE GIRL OF HIS DREAMS stands tall among them.

--- Reviewed by Barbara Lipkien Gershenbaum

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Another very good Brunetti novel

If my expectations of Donna Leon's books weren't so high, I would have given this one 5 stars. It's very good - not up to the level of the first few but very good.

Leon's writing does such an excellent job evoking the spirit of Venice, and over the course of this series she's provided so much detail into the thoughts and feelings (and eating/drinking habits) of many of these characters that they've become as familiar as family members. She seems incapable lately of avoiding heavy-handed moral lessons (in this case, the plight of the Gypsies) but it doesn't detract from the story in this case to the extent that it has in some of her previous efforts.

All in all, highly recommended, but if you're starting as a new reader of Leon go with the early novels first.

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The Girl of His Dreams

Will hold your interest. Always a suspense ending by the Commissario!

Enjoy!

Not up to her standard performance

I've read most of this series with great enjoyment, but this one is below the standard she has set for herself. The novel doesn't hang together--the mother's funeral takes up a lot of space but doesn't really lead anywhere. Ditto the side story about the priest, old friend of Sergio. A lot of print for very little understanding of characters or action. The main story could have been interesting, but all of the characters are cardboard figures. Even Paola and Guido seem to be lacking in their usual zest--the food isn't even interesting. I will admit to possibly having a jaded palate, due to reading this right after reading two fabulous books by Sicilian (mystery) writer Andrea Camilleri. Still, I think Leon has done much, much better.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

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