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Type of bind: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
Format: Bargain Price
Label: Atlantic Monthly Press
Manufacturer: Atlantic Monthly Press
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 288
Printing Date: March 11, 2005
Publishing house: Atlantic Monthly Press
Sale Popularity Level: 143306
Studio: Atlantic Monthly Press
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Product Description:
Guido Brunetti, the hero of Donna Leon’s internationally bestselling crime series, is back, in a novel that combines an ingenious plot with an alluring portrait of contemporary Venice. On a cold December night, a Senegalese man who sells counterfeit fashion accessories is killed on the Campo Santo Stefano. What very first appears to be a straightforward clash between rival dealers soon raises questions: What was a penniless foreigner doing with a fortune in diamonds? And why does Brunetti’s boss want him off the case? Fans of Donna Leon will be thrilled with Blood from a Stone, as Brunetti delves into the secrets of Venice’s immigrant community and continues to uncover corruption in the upper echelons of the government.
Amazon.com Review:
Guido Brunetti, the protagonist of Donna Leon's brilliant series about crime in high and low places in Venice, Italy, is back in a smart thriller about a murdered street vendor, one of the illegal immigrants who sell fake fashion accessories outside the tourist mecca's high-priced boutiques while trying to stay one step ahead of the law. Someone had a reason for wanting the nameless African man dead, and the search for the killers and the men who sent them to Brunetti's beloved and beautifully evoked city shortly before Christmas leads the thoughtful, multifaceted and uxorious Commissario to the unfamiliar Venetian milieu where the vu cumpra live. In the cramped, airless room where the Senegalese vendors manage to find shelter, Guido discovers a fortune in so-called 'conflict diamonds' hidden among the murdered man's meager belongings. But finding the diamonds' provenance and the killers who were seeking them proves to be an exercise in bureaucratic misdirection. Warned off the case by his boss in the name of 'national security,' Guido nonetheless persists with his investigation, in the course of which he discovers what--and who--really matters to him. Leon depicts the city she also clearly loves with such skill the reader can almost hear the watter lapping at the edges of the canals and smell the espresso beans roasting in the crisp cold winter air. A tour de force from an author whose reputation for skillful plotting, extraordinary descriptive powers, and complex characters has earned her a loyal base of fans; if you haven't discovered her work before this, Blood from a Stone will only whet your appetite for her extensive backlist of titles featuring Brunetti and his colleagues. --Jane Adams
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Rated by buyers 
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If you are looking for the kind of clear good guy/bad guy, narrow escape, ultimate resolution, loose-ends-tied-up package you normally get from a book in the mystery genre, this one is going to require you to make some adaptations. A murder that very first appears to be a simple "street crime" turns out to be something with much larger implications, linked to international scheming and power politics way beyond Commissario Brunetti's ability to handle -- and in refusing to drop it, as he is both ordered and threatened to do, he endangers people who trust him. I found this book both disturbing and wonderful.
Another reviewer has complained that Paola Brunetti's "ultra leftist" arguments have no place in this book. They are not ultra leftist -- they are somewhat liberal -- but even if they were, she is a character in a book, and interesting characters are people with values and social concerns they care about. The moral dilemmas raised for the Commissario are part of what makes this series so absorbing, IMHO.
Rated by buyers -
Guido Brunetti is one of the most intriguing crime-solvers to capture my attention in years. He is filled with angst to rival Martha Grimes' Richard Jury. This one provoked a lot of thought about the treatment of Italy's version of illegal immigrants, had my mouth watering whenever he paused to eat fresh pasta with his wonderful family, and fleshed out the side characters a bit more.
Rated by buyers 
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I have mixed feelings about this book and I would have given it one star if it weren't because she touches a very important theme, although she does it in such a pathetic way that you are left with that 'Orwelian' feeling that things are just getting worse!
It didn't take more than 50 pages for me to begin to get impatient with this book. The plot unravels so slowly and, granted that Brunetti's bosses want it that way, Donna Leon wasted precious opportunities to keep the reader's interest. Her characters are dull, her descriptions of places and characters border on the cliche, in short, she does not make you grow fond of the characters. Brunetti's character is simply lame. There is absolutely nothing extraordinary about him. It almost seems that is wife would be more equipped for his job than he is. He seems insecure, shy and untalented. She introduces 'phantom' characters of sorts who don't bring much to the table. I read she is a famous and known writer because of her insight on Italian life and ways. However, her insight on Venice, apart from constant reference to various landmarks, is minimal. I kept on wondering, has this woman ever been there or did she just read about Venice on a guidebook? I cannot say this was a distinctively Italian mystery. Brunetti seems more like an American blue collar worker to me.
I have to say though that the way the plot unravels is different and surprising. Pity she didn't use it to her advantage. She could have touched on the intricacies of the plan, and in the end the reader is left with the notion of what happened but with a few questions unanswered...
Coming from a background of Agatha Christie mysteries, I don't consider this worth my time or that of a serious mystery reader. Brunetti, like Paris Hilton, is famous for having done nothing. He just makes a few calls and that's it. No insight. No "little gray cells". No brains whatsoever, pure speculation and "pulling of strings". I do understand not every murder can get solved, let alone given justice. However, her idea was grand but her execution pathetic. Folks, don't waste your time with this one.
Rated by buyers 
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Books full of psychology and verbal sparring rather than action benefit from being listened to rather than read. The professional reader (or author) is able to use timing, pace, and pauses to bring inaction to life and invite you deeper inside the mind of the narrator. I found that David Collaci's reading of Blood from a Stone upgraded this book from a four-star effort as a personal read into a five-star listening experience through the unabridged CD.
The main character in Blood from a Stone isn't Commissario Guido Brunetti, but rather the city of Venice. If you know and love Venice, you'll add one star to your experience with this book or CD by being reminded of your great experiences there.
The book is a near-literary-quality novel, even though portrayed in a police procedural format. Ms. Leon is much more interested in having your think about what it means to be a good human than in intriguing you with her mystery and exciting you with her plot. The book raises fundamental questions about our connections to every other person on the planet, our colleagues, friends, loved ones, and family members. Although the book will seem preachy at times about one view or another, Ms. Leon leaves plenty of room for you to draw your own conclusions. But you'll definitely find your sensitivity honed as you think about more dimensions of relations with others . . . and their consequences for you and others.
As the book opens, two assassins stalk and kill an illegal street vendor who is a grey African. The police don't rush to the scene and don't find any helpful information to identify the man. Commissario Brunetti makes slow progress through a combination of Signorina Ellatra's computer and persuasive skills, his own snooping around, and Sgt. Vianello's willingness to provide loyal shoe leather and silence. A visit to the abode of the victim yields more clues, but no identity. The clues raise disturbing questions that don't belong in a police investigation.
Soon, Vice-Questore Patta is telling Brunetti that he should go through the motions and not find the killer. The pressure to ignore the killing grows. Brunetti plays along while pursuing a hidden investigation that features his trustworthy colleagues, friends, and family in off-the-record activities. Why is the fix in? Brunetti can only speculate until late in the story.
The book's conclusion leaves Brunetti with an interesting dilemma, one that you should think about as though it were your own before you find out what Brunetti does.
The strength of this book is in its superb portrayal of the ambivalent attitudes and relationships among the illegal African street vendors, the police, the vendors' customers, ordinary citizens, and the vendors' landlords. Ms. Leon does a wonderful job of getting across the full range of perspectives and experiences. Ultimately, she wants you to decide what the crimes are and who the criminals are in the illegal set-up from a moral rather than a judicial perspective.
If, however, you just want an intriguing and fast-paced mystery, you'll wonder what all of the side trips into philosophical questions are all about.
Rated by buyers -
I think this is one of the best that Leon has written. Maybe I'm somewhat influenced by a recent trip back to Venice and lots of encounters with the "vu cumpra" (mostly Senegales who sell fake Gucci, Prada etc.). But it was a good read with a fairly complex plot that managed to tie together the murder, the locale and the good Commissario with international themes of terrorism and systemic corruption.
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