Death At La Fenice by Donna Leon is part of series of detective novels featuring the endearing Commissario Guido Brunetti. This particular story involves a world-reknowned conductor, and his death by cyanide poisoning during the intermission of La Traviata at La Fenice in Venice. As Brunetti tries to piece together evidence to find the culprit of this crime, he learns more and more about the famed conductor’s life. He comes to realize that he had many enemies, and his past was filled with heinous secrets. There were many who could be responsible for wanting to see his demise, despite the reverence that the musical community had for his conducting genius.
The book was fast paced and kept me interested throughout. The descriptions of winter in Venice, with its bone-chilling dampness and thick pea-soup fog, were so realistic that I could feel the chill coming through the words.
I can highly recommend this book, and look forward to more stories about Comm. Brunetti.
This book was read as part of Italy in Books Challenge 2011.
Il Mio Tesoro 
This sounds like a good read, thanks for the recommendation.
Maggie
Enjoy! And thanks for visiting 🙂