Guido Brunetti

Guido Brunetti is a fictional Italian detective, created by American writer Donna Leon. He is a commissario (detective superintendent) in the Italian State Police, stationed in Venice and a native of that city. Brunetti is the subject of (up to 2018) 27 novels: He is also the subject of a German TV film series based on these novels.

Depiction

Brunetti is described by Leon in her first novel, Death at La Fenice as "a surprisingly neat man, tie carefully knotted, hair shorter than was the fashion; even his ears lay close to his head, as if reluctant to call attention to themselves. His clothing marked him as Italian. The cadence of his speech announce he was Venetian. His eyes were all policeman".[Note 1] He is portrayed as honest, intelligent and diligent in his work. He is happily married to Paola, a university lecturer, and has two children, Raffaele (16) and Chiara (13). He is well-educated (with the title dottore) having read classics at university,[Note 2] and speaks English well, from working in the USA for a period.[Note 3] He is by turns philosophical, intelligent and compassionate, but also pragmatic, with "native skills of subterfuge, trickery and deceit".[1] Arminta Wallace of the Irish Times has suggested that Brunetti is the antithesis of a crime-fiction stereotype; unlike the typical “shambolic, hard-drinking, over-worked policeman”, he is “presentable and well-read. He gets home for dinner” and he “seems to enjoy the company of his wife Paola and their kids”.[2]

Brunetti is assisted by a Detective Sergeant (later Inspector), Lorenzo Vianello, and by the station secretary, Elettra Zorzi, though he has a difficult relationship with his superior, Vice-Questore Giuseppe Patta.

List of characters

Some recurring characters from the Brunetti novels.[3]

Colleagues

  • Lorenzo Vianello, introduced in the second novel, Death in a Strange Country, is a detective sergeant and Brunetti's usual assistant. He is older than Brunetti,[Note 4] stolid and dependable. Later in the series he is promoted to Ispettore (detective inspector)
  • Elettra Zorzi (referred to as "signorina Elettra") is the Questura secretary. An able and intelligent woman, she was introduced in the third novel, The Anonymous Venetian, and quickly became indispensable to the running of the department. She readily assists Brunetti through her computer skills and range of contacts; he describes her as "a woman of endless and instinctive deceit".[Note 5]
  • Giuseppe Patta, the station's Vice-Questore, is Sicilian, a vain, bombastic, and (by turns) idle or dictatorial man. Brunetti has an awkward relationship with him, and this opinion is shared by the others; in Acqua Alta we see signorina Elettra running a surreptitious game of Bingo, based on Patta's use of jargon during staff briefings[Note 6]
  • Ettore Rizzardi, the Medical Examiner, a skilled and conscientious physician.

Family

  • Paola, Brunetti's wife, a university lecturer in English Literature
  • Raffaele ("Raffi") their 16 year old son
  • Chiara, their 13 year old daughter

List of novels

Commissario Brunetti is the subject of (to 2018) 27 novels.[4][5]

  1. Death at La Fenice (1992)
  2. Death in a Strange Country (1993)
  3. The Anonymous Venetian (1994) aka Dressed for Death
  4. A Venetian Reckoning (1995) aka Death and Judgment
  5. Acqua Alta (1996) aka Death in High Water
  6. The Death of Faith (1997) aka Quietly in Their Sleep
  7. A Noble Radiance (1997)
  8. Fatal Remedies (1999)
  9. Friends in High Places (2000)
  10. A Sea of Troubles (2001)
  11. Willful Behaviour (2002)
  12. Uniform Justice (2003)
  13. Doctored Evidence (2004)
  14. Blood from a Stone (2005)
  15. Through a Glass, Darkly (2006)
  16. Suffer the Little Children (2007)
  17. The Girl of His Dreams (2008)
  18. About Face (2009)
  19. A Question of Belief (2010)
  20. Drawing Conclusions (2011)
  21. Beastly Things (2012)
  22. The Golden Egg (2013)
  23. By Its Cover (2014)
  24. Falling in Love (2015)
  25. The Waters of Eternal Youth (2016)
  26. Earthly Remains (2017)
  27. The Temptation of Forgiveness (2018)

Television series

The Commissario Brunetti novels have been adapted for German television by Trebitsch Productions for ARD's Degeto Film division. In them Guido Brunetti has been depicted by Joachim Król (2000 – 2002) and by Uwe Kockisch (2004 to present).[6] 24 films have been made so far, though they differ in the characters and plot detail from the novels on which they are based.[7]

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Death at La Fenice p7
  2. ↑ Death at La Fenice p34
  3. ↑ Death in a Strange Country p54
  4. ↑ The Anonymous Venetian p110
  5. ↑ A Question of Belief p17
  6. ↑ Acqua Alta p

References

  1. ↑ Dead Merchant of Venice, Marilyn Stasio; 22 May 2005 New York Times; retrieved 5 July 2018
  2. ↑ Donna Leon: ‘I had the good sense to make Brunetti someone I liked’: Arminta Wallace, 17 April 2014, Irish Times: retrieved 26 June 2018
  3. ↑ Who's who in the Commissario Brunetti books at deadgoodbooks.co.uk, 11 April 2018; retrieved 26 June 2018
  4. ↑ Commissario Brunetti novels in chronological order at bookbag.co.uk; retrieved 26 June 2018
  5. ↑ Commissario Brunetti novels at deadgoodreads.co.uk; retrieved 30 June 2018
  6. ↑ Commissario Brunetti: German Mystery Drama Back on Telly Linda Jew, 17 April 2015, at theeurotvplace.com; retrieved 30 June 2018
  7. ↑ Commissario Brunetti- the TV series at fictional cities.co.uk; retrieved 30 June 2018
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