Dona Leon’s Commissario Guido Brunetti is one of my favorite characters in contemporary fiction and I guess, by default, that makes Leon one of my favorite current writers. Thus far, there are twenty-one books in the Brunetti series with another coming out in 2013. They are all set in or around Venice (Italy, not California) where Leon, herself has lived for thirty years.
I’ve read all the Brunetti books, in order, and feel that I know him, his colleagues and his family almost as well as I know some of my Oysterville neighbors. I’ve ‘sat’ at his dinner table, wrestled with his computer, worried about his children and their choices. Too, more often than not, the problem central to each book is a problem we, halfway across the world, are also struggling with – big problems, like what to do with the tons of garbage we generate or how to humanely deal with the growing illegal alien controversies.
Over and above all of that, though, is Leon’s meticulous research and her elegant presentation. Her books are a pleasure to read. So it was with both interest and trepidation that I picked up her most recent book – a ‘standalone’ called The Jewels of Paradise. Would it come up to the Brunetti series? The answer, unfortunately, is an unequivocal “no” and my advice to anyone wondering is “don’t bother.”
It’s not that the book is poorly written, but there just didn’t seem to be enough ‘there’ there. The plot was thin, the characters too few, and I wondered throughout why Ms. Leon had bothered. The book centers on a research project being tackled by a woman with a doctorate in Baroque Opera. Its Venetian setting is the only similarity to her fabulous Brunetti books.
Just as I was wondering whether to give it up (I was about halfway through), I happened to hear another author of a very successful series being interviewed on NPR. Harry Potter’s creator, J.K. Rowling was talking about her latest book, The Casual Vacancy – also a standalone and one that I’ve heard is disappointing to her fans. Rowling said that this was a book she had wanted to write for a long time but that no publisher would have considered it before her success with the Harry Potter series.
I wondered if the back story concerning The Jewels of Paradise is a similar one. The details of the research project at the heart of this Leon book felt almost autobiographical to me. I can’t imagine that it would have found the light of day had Leon not already become an icon in the world of mystery novels. As an ever-aspiring author, I appreciate the irony of both Leon’s and Rowling’s situations. Now if only I had time, energy, and inspiration for a Harry or a Guido in my life.
I tried to get through the J.K. Rowling new book, but couldn’t manage it. I found it extremely depressing and dark. As a Harry Potter mega-fan, I do have to say that I found the last 2 books in the series dark and depressing, also. The only thing that kept me reading to the end was wanting to know “how it all worked out”. Lately, I’ve found I try to concentrate on the positive and happy, even if it is a bit like an ostrich!