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Death at La Fenice (1992), the first novel by American academic and crime-writer Donna Leon, started the internationally best-selling Commissario Brunetti mystery series, set in Venice, Italy.
I read it while in Tuscany.
Slow paced. Brunetti flawed. I’m enjoying the books. Five, so far. And I’ll read more.
Death at La Fenice (1992)
Death in a Strange Country (1993)
The Anonymous Venetian / Dressed for Death (1994)
Venetian Reckoning / Death and Judgment (1995)
Acqua Alta / Death in High Water (1996)
A world-famous German opera conductor has died at La Fenice, and Commissario (Detective) Guido Brunetti pursues what appears to be a murder investigation without leads.
Ultimately, I had to quit after day 3 because of illness.
Drinking from the same hoses and standing pipes as every other cyclist, I suffered some sort of stomach problem. Diarrhea. Threw up on my shoes, at one point.
Didn’t eat for about 36 hours.
BUT if not sick I might have still quit after Siena. Completing about 190km of the 472 total.
For one thing, the afternoon lightning storms were terrifying. Even the most experienced riders hunker down in lightning. Two were killed in Tuscany as I post — both hit by falling trees.
The rain turned some trails into impassable mud baths. … Though it did soften up some other trails.
My bike is excellent for normal bikepacking — but the Tuscany Trail was far more technical than I’d expected. A mountain bike with very little weight attached is what most experience riders were rocking.
I was envious of the electric mountain bikes.
My bike was the 2nd most inappropriate rig. Worse was a 2-person tandem. Husband and wife. I wished them luck.
I was cycling with ALL my gear for a months long trip.
On one of the many downhill, rocky trails a screw came loose on my front pannier rack. So my front saddle bags were rocking side-to-side.
In Siena I took as much off the bike as possible (see photo below) and went to find luggage storage.
IF you Google “siena luggage storage” you’ll find a wealth of options.
All lies. In Siena there are only tobacco shops who hold a few bags as side income. And they only open randomly. Not Sundays. … And this was Sunday.
WHY doesn’t Siena have 24-hour lockers like most Italian tourist cities.
My theory since age-17 is that Italy is hopeless for tourists.
Nothing works. Nothing is open when you need it.
A long history of government inefficiency and corruption makes it this way.
Note that Germany and Switzerland next door are two of the most efficient nations.
There are no real enforced rules in Italy. Yet every time a tourist turns around somebody is yelling at you for violating an unnecessary rule. Yeesh.
When tourists complain, it’s explained that Italians don’t care about entrepreneurship nor efficiency because they value lifestyle over money. I don’t buy it.
Chain-smoking and sipping tiny espressos is not a healthy lifestyle.
I’d definitely return to Tuscany for cycling. But not likely the most famous ride ➙ the Tuscany Trail.
For one thing, it’s mainly a ca$h grab by organizers. They spend very little and pocket over 100 € / person. Normally capped at 3000, in 2023 they went up to about 4700 bikes. Too many for these trails and small towns.
Better, for example. is the Ganza Gravel event. October is much better weather than June. Cyclists have 3-4 different routes to choose from. Folks get together for meals in the evenings. There might even be a food festival at the end.
For those who are not really cyclists, the supported electric bike tours looked very good to me. Not inexpensive.
Peter Grainger is still the best author I know who doesn’t have a Wikipedia page.
That’s surprising since his fans are fanatics for his books.
His murder mysteries are different. Slow paced. Very little violence, sex, or profanity.
Detailed police procedurals.
The mystery is secondary to the relationships between characters. For example, in this 2020 book there’s a charming love story between a blind musician and Detective Sergeant Christopher Waters.
“He might be a nobody, but he was their nobody and their first case.”
The new Kings Lake Central murder squad is about to spend its first morning on team-building exercises and reviewing cold cases when the call comes in that the body of one of the city’s rough sleepers has been found in a shop doorway.
It happens, someone says, he isn’t the first to die on the streets and he won’t be the last, but the story the new team begins to uncover is far from routine. …
The series follows the relationship between Marianne Sheridan (Daisy Edgar-Jones) and Connell Waldron (Paul Mescal), as they navigate adulthood from their final days in secondary school to their undergraduate years in Trinity College. …
Critics praise the subtle performances, directing, writing, aesthetics, and portrayal of mature content.
After all that rah rah … I must admit I only made it through the first 6 episodes. I got to depressed with how Marianne lets her life be ruined. And that Connell lets her.
It follows U.S. Secret Service agent Ethan Burke as he unravels the mystery surrounding his unanticipated arrival in the small town of Wayward Pines, Idaho, following a devastating car accident.
The novels are Pines (2012), Wayward (2013), and The Last Town (2014).
In 2015, the novels were adapted into the television series Wayward Pines. …
For me the 2nd book in the series was not as good as the first. Though it does have the kind of cliffhanger ending that made me put book #3 on hold at my library.
Ethan Burke is now surprisingly the sheriff, seemingly in the confidence of Dr. Pilcher who runs the mystery town.
Rick McCharles 