{"id":3995,"date":"2013-08-28T16:57:37","date_gmt":"2013-08-28T21:57:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=3995"},"modified":"2026-01-21T16:09:06","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T21:09:06","slug":"acqua-alta-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/3995","title":{"rendered":"Acqua Alta"},"content":{"rendered":"

Acqua Alta<\/a><\/em> (1996) Donna Leon<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>This story returns to Brett and Flavia, who we met in the first book, Death at La Fenice<\/em>. Brett has returned from China, only it appears that someone is not happy for her to have returned.<\/p>\n

It is the time of acqua alta, or high water, in Venice. The sirens go off, the walkways flood, and temporary boardwalks are put up, and anyone with property and ground level will find it flooded.<\/p>\n

We finally see Vianello and Signorina Elettra taking a larger part at Brunetti’s work–something I’ve been waiting for as I have been re-reading these books.<\/p>\n

‘(I)t didn’t seem they were interested in taking anything.’<\/p>\n

‘Short-sighted on their part. It would be a good place to rob.’<\/p>\n

At this, Brunetti broke down. ‘How do you know that, Vianello?’<\/p>\n

‘My sister-in-law’s next-door neighbor is her maid. Goes in three times a week to clean, keeps and eye on the place when she’s in China. She’s talked about what’s in there, says it must be worth a fortune.’<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Of course, Patta remains.<\/p>\n

(H)e removed his coat and put it on a hanger, then hung it on the curtain rod that ran in front of the window above the radiator. Anyone looking into the room from across the canal would see, perhaps, a man who had hanged himself in his own office. If they worked in the Questura, their first impulse would no doubt be to count the floors, looking to see if it was Patta’s window.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But of course characters in every story are Italy and Venice. As an American, some of the things that Brunetti and others accept as the way things are done continues to surprise me.<\/p>\n

No Italian would bother to ask why the shipments were not made directory in Germany. The Germans, it was rumored, saw the law as something to be obeyed, unlike the Italians, who saw it as something first to be fathomed and then evaded.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Of course, there is a mystery as well, and as usual, justice is mutable. It seems to me that trying to be a police officer in a land where justice is mutable would be a very very hard thing. Yet Brunetti doesn’t give up.<\/p>\n

Rating: 7\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n

Published by Grove Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Acqua Alta (1996) Donna Leon This story returns to Brett and Flavia, who we met in the first book, Death at La Fenice. Brett has returned from China, only it appears that someone is not happy for her to have returned. It is the time of acqua alta, or high water, in Venice. The sirens […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[193,8,291,42,41],"tags":[97,96],"class_list":["post-3995","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-7-10","category-mystery","category-paper","category-police","category-reread","tag-commissario-guido-brunetti","tag-donna-leon"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-12r","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":584,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/584","url_meta":{"origin":3995,"position":0},"title":"Acqua Alta","author":"Michelle","date":"May 31, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Acqua Alta (1996) Donna Leon In Acqua Alta we return to two of the characters that Guido met in the first mystery, Death at La Fenice. Brett Lynch is beaten in the doorway of her own apartment. When Guido discovers what has happened he goes to her hospital where he\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Mystery"","block_context":{"text":"Mystery","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/mystery"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Acqua-Alta.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5449,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/5449","url_meta":{"origin":3995,"position":1},"title":"Acqua Alta","author":"Michelle","date":"October 11, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Acqua Alta (1996) Donna Leon The fifth book in the Commisario Brunetti series finds the city of Venice a major character, as the Acqua Alta threatens the city with flooding. We also return to Flavia Petrelli and Brett, the women from the first book. Brett has returned to the city\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Acqua-Alta.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3037,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/3037","url_meta":{"origin":3995,"position":2},"title":"About Face","author":"Michelle","date":"July 8, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"About Face (2009) Donna Leon I checked my shelves and noticed I didn't have About Face. The reason I didn't see it is because I'd gotten it on clearance in hardback. So, it's just as well I now have it in paperback. And of course, once I started reading, I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Mystery"","block_context":{"text":"Mystery","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/mystery"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2024,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/2024","url_meta":{"origin":3995,"position":3},"title":"A Question of Belief","author":"Michelle","date":"October 19, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"A Question of Belief (2010) Donna Leon It's summer in Venice, and Brunetti wishes that all criminals would take a vacation with the rest of the country, to allow them to escape the oppressive heat. But even if the criminals were to take a break, two different problems that may\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Mystery"","block_context":{"text":"Mystery","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/mystery"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Question-of-Belief.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":613,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/613","url_meta":{"origin":3995,"position":4},"title":"Fatal Remedies","author":"Michelle","date":"July 19, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Fatal Remedies (1999) Donna Leon I started Fatal Remedies immediately after I finished A Noble Radiance, wasn't sure about the direction the story was taking, and then picked it up again today, as I have a whole stack of Guido Brunetti books waiting to be read. What I was unsure\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Fatal-Remedies-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5459,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/5459","url_meta":{"origin":3995,"position":5},"title":"Fatal Remedies","author":"Michelle","date":"October 25, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Fatal Remedies (1999) Donna Leon I actually didn't repurchase this as an ebook, because I clearly remembered not liking it the first time around. Mind you, I'm not saying it's not good, because it is good. But that doesn't mean I have to like it. The 8th mystery opens with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Mystery"","block_context":{"text":"Mystery","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/mystery"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Fatal-Remedies-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3995","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3995"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3995\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3995"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3995"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}