Donna Leon

The twisted maze of Venice's canals has always been shrouded in mystery. Even the celebrated opera house, La Fenice, has seen its share of death ... but none so horrific and violent as that of world-famous conductor, Maestro Helmut Wellauer, who was poisoned during a performance of La Traviata. Even Commissario of Police, Guido Brunetti, used to the labyrinthine corruptions of the city, is shocked at the number of enemies Wellauer has made on his way to the top - but just how many have motive enough for murder? The beauty of Venice is crumbling. But evil is one thing that will never erode with age.

Death at La Fenice

There is little violent crime in Venice, a serenely beautiful floating city of mystery and magic, history and decay. But the evil that does occasionally rear its head is the jurisdiction of Guido Brunetti, the suave, urbane vice-commissario of police and a genius at detection. Now all of his admirable abilities must come into play in the deadly affair of Maestro Helmut Wellauer, a world-renowned conductor who died painfully from cyanide poisoning during an intermission at La Fenice. But as the investigation unfolds, a chilling picture slowly begins to take shape—a detailed portrait of revenge painted with vivid strokes of hatred and shocking depravity. And the dilemma for Guido Brunetti will not be finding a murder suspect, but rather narrowing the choices down to one. . . .

A Commissario Guido Brunetti Mystery

Sajiya Chaudhary

It was the first book by the author, and yet I loved the writing style. It was certainly very different from Christie, P.D.James and the way the book is written isn't the traditional murder mystery types. It has something of everything in it, the author touches upon Politics, Architecture of Venice, Restaurants, Calles (Streets of Venice), Food & Wine, Weather, Capitalism, Pollution. I loved the attention to details, and how much different Guido Brunetti is from any other detective i have read. Poirot, Sherlock, Anthony Horowitz's detectives, they all had minimal personal lives, or if they had, it wasn't mentioned much in the text, in this case it was fairly pleasant to have a detective with personal life and to see all those characters in attendance as well. So, prettt interesting read. Would love to read more of this series and author

Cindy Lieberman

A detective in Venice, Italy investigates the death of a famous conductor between the second and third acts of an opera. Written by an American who lives in Venice, it follows familiar detective fiction structure with an emphasis on place (lots of water taxiing around the canals), wine and food. 

I was looking for a mystery series to read while waiting for new books from Elizabeth George and Louise Penny. This has close to 30, so it should keep me busy for a while. Unfortunately there are few in audiobook format, at least in the early books and of course I must read them in order. 

If you know of another good series, preferably with a strong female lead, please leave me a suggestion in the comments!

Nadine 

Interesting resolution. Fairly pedestrian writing, not as good as Louise Penny where the characters have more depth.

Death at La Fenice

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