FALLING IN LOVE is written by Donna Leon and is Book #24 in her award-winning Commissario Guido Brunetti Mystery series.
An Opera singer is terrified by a stalker.
Years ago, in the first Commissario Guido Brunetti story Death at La Fenice, Guido Brunetti cleared the opera star Flavia petrelli in the murder of a famous conductor.
Presently, the soprano has returned to Venice, to its celebrated Opera House La Fenice, to sing the lead in its production of Tosca.
At a dinner party with Guido’s in-laws, Flavia reluctantly ‘confesses’ her nervousness, her fear, of being watched, of being stalked by an obsessive, ‘crazy’ fan.
Guido begins to delve into the world, the psyche of a possibly deranged, murderous fanatic.

What I know about opera would fit on a pinhead (!) so this title was fascinating to read - all the references to opera, stagecraft, costumes, music, lyrics, famous productions, the world-renowned La Fenice and, of course, the city of Venice.
A very good title. Love the book cover.
**** ( )

My favorite Donna Leon to date. ( )

3.5 stars. ( )

I always enjoy joining Commissario Guido Brunetti and his family for meals in his Venice apartment. If only I could walk home from work, along the canals of Venice, for a two-hour lunch of gnocchi, grilled vegetables, and Pinot Grigio, followed by an espresso on the terrace. Here, Paola turns Guido's discussion of the possible stalker of an opera singer into a critique of Petrarch: "'I think that might be why Petrarch has always made me so uncomfortable.' 'What?' Brunetti asked in open astonishment. 'His thing with Laura,' she said, and Brunetti pondered those words — in the mouth of the most serious reader he had ever known, and said of the man who had taught his country to write poetry. His thing with Laura? 'I've always wondered if he simply wound himself up about her . . . one does get so tired of all the unrequited love.'" ( )

Not the most engaging of Leon's work largely because there was no body whose death needed to be solved. Enjoyed the operatic angle with Tosca providing a suitably bloody backdrop. ( )