You can't expect a Donna Leon novel that finds itself in the house to remain unread for very long. She brings the city of Venice, with its sights, its smells, its characters, its politics right through the front door. She makes us part of the life of Commissario Brunetti and his engaging family and transports me to their world. Add to that a fine plot which never reveals exactly where it's going and you've got a book that is quite simply un-put-downable. This time it's a sinister mystery about a local deaf-mute. Has he committed suicide? Or was he murdered? Read it and find out. ( )

THE GOLDEN EGG by Donna Leon is Book #22 in Donna Leon’s highly acclaimed Commissario Guido Brunetti Mystery series.
Another 4 Star title which features the city of Venice in all its beauty and venality, the musings and reasonings of Commissario Guido Brunetti, his hard-working and interesting team, his family and love of food and of course, the mystery.
Highly recommended. ( )

Un hombre sordo y retrasado que trabaja en una tintorería del vecindario de Brunetti aparece muerto por una sobredosis de pastillas. Su inquietud, el sentimiento de culpabilidad por su propio desinterés y el hecho de que haya muy pocos precedentes de suicidas con minusvalías psíquicas hacen que Brunetti se ponga en marcha. Lo que comienza como una simple pesquisa termina convirtiéndose en una compleja investigación en la que se vuelca toda la comisaría cuando nuestro protagonista descubre que el fallecido no figura en ningún registro y que todo aquel con el que habla tiene algo que ocultar. El poder ilimitado de los ricos, el bien y el mal, el silencio como escudo, la codicia, están presentes en otros casos de Donna Leon, pero en esta nueva y apasionante aventura son el telón de fondo de una inquietante reflexión sobre el lenguaje, sobre aquello que nos hace humanos. ¿Puede alguien ser tan ciego ante su propia codicia como para matar a la gallina de los huevos de oro?

Leon writes just exactly what I want to read, time after time. So much of the appeal of her crime stories is that Brunetti spends his time noticing life, and unwrapping layers of the psyche of whomever the latest crime centers around, rather than chasing and arresting people. I close one of her books both unsettled and satisfied, every time. I hope she writes for many more years. ( )

Brunetti's wife informs him of the death of a deaf man who had worked at the cleaners they used - and when he checks with the coroner he finds there is no record whatsoever of the man's life, an near impossibility in modern Italy and there is greater than usual silence in the neighborhood about the man and his mother. An interesting if not compelling time spent with Brunetti, his family and associates dealing with some unpleasant realities. ( )