Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN num: 9780330349499
ISBN number: 033034949X
Label: Pan Books
Manufacturer: Pan Books
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 400
Printing Date: 1998-07
Publishing house: Pan Books
Sale Popularity Level: 365081
Studio: Pan Books
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Rated by buyers 
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If you haven't read any other books in the Guido Brunetti series, don't start with this one. Go back and begin with Death at La Fenice.
The Death of Faith is one of Donna Leon's best stories in terms of making the mystery hard to understand until she chooses to let a key clue become available. The book also displays the problems that detectives have in solving crimes when doors are closed to them. As a result, this is a fine police procedural that you'll enjoy. Those who don't like the plodding steps involved in a detailed investigation may find this book to be a little slow for their taste.
If you dislike books that look at the potential for abuse in the Catholic Church, I recommend you skip this book: You won't be pleased.
Vice-Questore Patta is off on a second honeymoon, leaving Commissario Guido Brunetti in charge. He's at loose ends because crime has also taken a holiday when a vaguely familiar woman arrives to report her suspicions. Once Brunetti realizes that this is a person he has highly trusted in the past, he's inclined to take her report seriously. But scratching around doesn't yield any corroboration . . . until unknown agents seem to be determined to still the suspicions. This time the trail yields helpful clues.
Back in the family, Brunetti and his wife, Paola, discuss their differing views about religious instruction as their daughter, Chiara, becomes disillusioned with a class she's taking.
One of the pleasures of this story is to see a further development of Brunetti as a loyal person who wants to do the right thing.
One of the disappointing things about the book is that Ms. Leon seems to have an ax to grind that extends beyond her story.
Rated by buyers 
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First, let me say that I thoroughly enjoy many of Donna Leon's Venetian mysteries. She has a sharp eye for detail and an equally sharp wit that humanizes many of her characters, especially the endearing Inspector Brunetti. Her plots are interesting, but it's the humanity of her characters and the wonderfully described atmosphere of everyday life in Venice itself that keeps one reading. While she does tend to preach at her readers, usually through Brunetti's insufferably perfect wife, Paola, she usually keeps it to a bearable degree.
Not in this sledgehammer of a book. It's as though in this single novel, Leon distills all her weaknesses as a writer. From beginning to end, we are served with stereotypical, cookie-cutter characters where anyone Catholic or religious is one-dimensionally venal and evil, and secular characters (obviously meant to be the good guys here) sneer unattractively at religion and at those who practice it. Virtually everyone comes off as self-righteously pompous, even the usually lovable Brunetti.
The wildly implausible plot is nearly forgotten in this diatribe; clearly, Leon sees it as less important that Getting Her Point Across. Brunetti does virtually no detecting, relying instead on the godlike abilities of his boss's secretary to get any piece of information he might need.
I found myself skimming the last quarter of the book just to get it overwith, something I would never have done with a Brunetti mystery before. We can only hope Leon either got the vitriol out of her system with this book, or that she improves enough as a writer to incorporate it with more skill and grace in the future.
[NOTE: This review was written for the recent version of this book, entitled "Quietly in Their Sleep."]
Rated by buyers 
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It's always interesting to travel with the Commissario on his cases, and pleasant to share fine Italian lunches with his family, his English professora wife and his two rebellious teenagers. Brunetti is the classics-lovin, uncorrupted anti-hero who struggles successfully with both the underworld and the legal powers that be, with the aid of his beautiful and thoughtful secretary, who's a whiz of a hacker. The description of place and people is so fine that one has the sense of being in Venessia. In her novels, Donna Leon has pulled no punches in advertising (in an entertaining way) the rottenness of elements of the ruling hierarchy in Italy, but this 'Brunnetti' is a special. Here, one is made aware of the fascist Catholic sect Opus Dei. This was interesting for me because I'd never heard of Opus Dei, and then read more about it on the web. I would rate "The Death of Faith" as one of the strongest of Leon's novels.
Rated by buyers -
Donna Leon takes the mystery genre beyond the standard "who-done-it" and that what makes her novels so enjoyable. The endings of all of the Brunetti novels I have read (most of them) are rather dark and unresolved. She has a very cynical (realistic?) view of the way the Italian world works - or doesn't work. Corruption is rampant and Commissario Brunetti struggles to maintain a commitment to justice amidst the corruption. He also has a wonderful relationship with Pauola, his wife, that is so nice. Donna Leon really makes you want to meet the characters. I think she's wonderful and hope she never stops writing.
Rated by buyers -
While in the UK last year, I took the advice of a bookseller and discovered a fabulous mystery writer: Donna Leon, a best selling writer in the UK who is little published in the USA. Her mysteries are wonderfully plotted and her prose impecable! Venice, its people and traditions come vividly alive, adding to the books' appeal. This audio is a prime example of the author's mastery of her craft. My only question: why hasn't she been more widely published in the United States?
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