{"id":5470,"date":"2015-10-29T19:36:40","date_gmt":"2015-10-29T23:36:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=5470"},"modified":"2018-04-26T09:36:07","modified_gmt":"2018-04-26T13:36:07","slug":"friends-in-high-places-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/5470","title":{"rendered":"Friends in High Places"},"content":{"rendered":"

Friends in High Places<\/a><\/em> (1999) Donna Leon<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The ninth Commissario Brunetti book finds the Brunetti family possibly in danger of losing their apartment.<\/p>\n

‘I’m afraid there is some doubt as to the official status of your apartment.’
\n“‘Official status”?’ Brunetti repeated, looking off to the left of Rossi, to the solid wall and then up to the equally solid ceiling. ‘I’m not sure I understand what you mean.’
\n‘There’s some doubt about the apartment,’ Rossi said with a smile that Brunetti thought looked a bit nervous. Before Brunetti could again ask for clarification, Rossi went on, ‘That is, there are no papers in the Ufficio Catasto to show that building permits were ever granted for this entire floor, or that they were approved when it was built or,’ and here he smiled again, ‘that, in fact, it was ever built.’<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

‘I’d like to know what all this means, Signor Rossi. Is there some dispute about our ownership of this apartment?’ Rossi gave his nervous smile again. ‘I’m afraid it’s a bit more complicated than that, Signor Brunetti.’ Brunetti had no idea what could be more serious than that. ‘What is it, then?’ ‘I’m afraid this apartment doesn’t exist.’<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The insanity of this both makes me giggle and horrifies me, because that is precisely how bureaucracy works.<\/p>\n

I also adore this exchange between Guido and Paola.<\/p>\n

‘Guido, you’ve read Xenophon at least twice since we’ve been married. If you don’t know whether or not they got back, then you weren’t paying attentiontion, or you’ve got the first symptoms of Alzheimer’s.’
\n‘I’m pretending I don’t know what happens so I’ll enjoy it more,’<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I love that so very much.<\/p>\n

We also see that Patta’s son is in trouble, and that Patta has to actually ask Brunetti for a favor. Of course, it’s Patta, so it’s not like he’ll remember it.<\/p>\n

But of course, this is a murder mystery, so there is grief and horror.<\/p>\n

No, Signora, your Marco will never have any trouble again, but all that you will have now, and for the rest of your lives, is loss and pain and the terrible sense that you somehow how failed this boy. And no matter how deep your knowledge that you were not responsible for it, your certainty that you were will always be deeper and more absolute.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But, there is also Signorina Elettra.<\/p>\n

Instead of bothering himself with considering the correct bureaucratic process by which a request for information could be made, he dialled Signorina Elettra and asked her if she could get into their files.
\n‘Ah, the Guardia di Finanza,’ she breathed, making no attempt to disguise the rapture with which she greeted this request, ‘I’ve longed to be asked to do this.’
\n‘You wouldn’t do it on your own, Signorina?’ he asked.
\n‘Why no, sir,’ she answered, surprised that he would ask. ‘That would be, well, that would be poaching, wouldn’t it?’
\n‘And this, if I ask you to do it?’
\n‘Big game hunting, sir,’ she sighed and was gone.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I quite enjoyed re-reading this–and pretending I didn’t know what happened.
\nRating: 8\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n

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

Friends in High Places (1999) Donna Leon The ninth Commissario Brunetti book finds the Brunetti family possibly in danger of losing their apartment. ‘I’m afraid there is some doubt as to the official status of your apartment.’ “‘Official status”?’ Brunetti repeated, looking off to the left of Rossi, to the solid wall and then up […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[12,8,42,41],"tags":[97,96],"class_list":["post-5470","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-8-10","category-mystery","category-police","category-reread","tag-commissario-guido-brunetti","tag-donna-leon"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-1qe","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":735,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/735","url_meta":{"origin":5470,"position":0},"title":"Friends in High Places","author":"Michelle","date":"October 29, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Friends in High Places (2000) Donna Leon Apparently, Donna Leon's Commissario Brunetti books are not being published in the US following European copyright dates. Friends in High Places has a European copyright of 2000, but was published in the US only recently. Not that this particularly matters in the grand\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\/Friends-in-High-Places.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":22582,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/22582","url_meta":{"origin":5470,"position":1},"title":"So Shall You Reap","author":"Michelle","date":"December 4, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"So Shall You Reap (2023) Donna Leon (Commissario Brunetti) This is the 32nd book in the Commissario Brunetti series. Like so many other characters in mysteries, Brunetti and his family have stopped aging, Chiara forever trapped as a young teen. Like the previous couple books, the mysteries are ok. The\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "7\/10"","block_context":{"text":"7\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/7-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"So Shall You Reap","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/So-Shall-You-Reap.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/So-Shall-You-Reap.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/So-Shall-You-Reap.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/So-Shall-You-Reap.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":12595,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/12595","url_meta":{"origin":5470,"position":2},"title":"Trace Elements","author":"Michelle","date":"March 6, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Trace Elements (2020) Donna Leon (Commissario Guido Brunetti) Book 29 of the Commissario Guido Brunetti series. Brunetti and Griffoni go to a hospice because a dying woman wants to talk to them. Her husband recently was killed in a car accident, and she seems to be telling them that he\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "7.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"7.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/7-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Trace Elements","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Trace-Elements-682x1024.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":687,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/687","url_meta":{"origin":5470,"position":3},"title":"Doctored Evidence","author":"Michelle","date":"October 8, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Doctored Evidence (2004) Donna Leon A querulous old woman is killed in her apartment, and suspicion automatically falls upon the maid. Scarpa closes the case, but when Brunetti comes back into town, new evidence--that Scarpa wants to dismiss unheard--comes to light. This book is not just about discovering who killed\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\/11\/Doctored-Evidence-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":588,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/588","url_meta":{"origin":5470,"position":4},"title":"Quietly in Their Sleep","author":"Michelle","date":"June 2, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Quietly in Their Sleep (1997) Donna Leon This was a rather strange story in comparison to the previous books. 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