Falling in Love

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

In Death at La Fenice , Donna Leon's first novel in the Commissario Brunetti series, readers were introduced to the glamorous and cut-throat world of opera and to one of Italy's finest living sopranos, Flavia Petrelli - then a suspect in the poisoning of a renowned German conductor. Now, many years after Brunetti cleared her name, Flavia has returned to the illustrious La Fenice to sing the lead in Tosca .

As an opera superstar, Flavia is well acquainted with attention from adoring fans and aspiring singers. But when one anonymous admirer inundates her with bouquets of yellow roses - on stage, in her dressing room and even inside her locked apartment - it becomes clear that this fan has become a potentially dangerous stalker. Distraught, Flavia turns to an old friend for help. Familiar with Flavia's melodramatic temperament, Commissario Brunetti is at first unperturbed by her story, but when another young opera singer is attacked he begins to think Flavia's fears may be justified. In order to keep his friend out of danger, Brunetti must enter the psyche of an obsessive fan and find the culprit before anyone comes to harm.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

In his latest outing, Commissario Brunetti (after By Its Cover) investigates a stalking centered on the production of the well-known Puccini opera Tosca. Flavia Petrelli, the fabulous Italian soprano and murder suspect from Leon's first novel, Death at La Fenice, returns to the famed opera house. This time, Flavia is the victim of a stalker who showers her with abundant yellow roses and priceless jewels. Anyone who appears to befriend or protect Flavia becomes as well, with the soprano herself the intended final act. As in previous entries, Brunetti and company highlight excellent detective work in addition to providing clever but perceptive commentary on critical social issues, this time unionization and strikes. Brunetti devotees and avid readers will also savor the passages focusing on Brunetti's spouse, Paola, and her love of reading. Listen should be forewarned that this entry, which is narrated by the gifted David Colacci, ends somewhat abruptly. Verdict Recommend to Leon's fans as well as those who enjoy Louise Penny's Armand Gamache and the long-running Richard Jury series by Martha Grimes-different locales with great detectives. ["Another provocative addition to a fine series, certain to appeal to aficionados of profound literary mysteries": LJ 2/1/15 starred review of the Atlantic Monthly hc.]-Sandra C. Clariday, Tennessee Wesleyan Coll. Lib., Athens © Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Publishers Weekly Review

In bestseller Leon's pleasurable 24th mystery to feature Commissario Guido Brunetti (after 2014's By Its Cover), Brunetti reunites with opera diva Flavia Petrelli, whom he exonerated of murder in his first outing, Death at La Fenice. Flavia, performing in a production of Tosca, confides that an unknown admirer has followed her from London to St. Petersburg to Venice, showering her with increasingly extravagant displays of yellow roses. As the fan intrudes into her personal space-placing flowers in her apartment building, leaving a priceless necklace in her dressing room, and writing possessive notes-Brunetti educates himself about stalking. When two people connected to Flavia are seriously injured, he realizes the singer herself is in danger. Leon's Venice is peopled with urbane, sophisticated characters, and she flavors the novel with insights into stagecraft, Tosca, and the storied La Fenice opera house. Series aficionados as well as those who appreciate elegant settings and cultured conversation should find this a deeply satisfying escape. Agent: Susanna Bauknecht, Diogenes Verlag (Switzerland). (Apr.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Booklist Review

*Starred Review* For many fans, the high points in Leon's beloved Guido Brunetti series have been the two novels featuring opera diva Flavia Perelli: Death at La Fenice (1992), the series opener, and Aqua Alta (1996). In both tales, Venetian police commissario Brunetti solves crimes that at first appear to implicate the diva. Now, finally, Flavia returns to Venice to star in Tosca at La Fenice, the city's historic opera house. This time, though, she is not a suspect in a crime but a potential victim. An obsessive fan is showering Flavia with inappropriate gifts gifts that carry with them the suggestion of menace. When a male singer whom Flavia supported is assaulted, it appears that the threat has become tangible. Brunetti is asked by Flavia for help, and he responds as he always does, by attempting to discern not only the facts but also the psychology behind them in this case, the process through which an obsessive fan becomes a potentially lethal stalker. As always, there is rich interplay between the characters Brunetti and his wife, Paola, of course, but also Flavia, now a close friend as well as a woman in need of protection. And, best of all, the reappearance of Flavia gives Leon the opportunity to display her deep love of music and to construct a marvelous climactic scene between Flavia and her fan that parallels the finale of Tosca. Brava! HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: The Guido Brunetti novels have sold more than two million copies in North America, and the previous entry, By Its Cover, reached number seven on the New York Times best-seller list.--Ott, Bill Copyright 2015 Booklist

Kirkus Book Review

Commissario Guido Brunetti returns to La Fenice for another dramatic encounter with the diva Flavia Petrelli. In his first appearance (Death at La Fenice, 1992), Brunetti looked into the murder of an eminent conductor, proving that Flavia wasn't the killer. A few years later, in Aqua Alta (1996), he saved her female lover's life. Now Flavia's back in Venice, and trouble follows as surely as the pigeons flock to Piazza San Marco. Someone has been showering her with too many yellow roses at performances around Europe, and things get creepier when she finds flowers by the door of the apartment she's borrowing in her friendand former loverFreddy's palazzo, especially when Freddy tells her he hasn't let anyone into the building. Then a voice student Flavia had complimented at La Fenice is pushed down the steps of a bridge, and Freddy is attacked. Brunetti needs to find Flavia's stalker (a strange word the computer-phobic detective finds mostly on English-language websites when he deigns to give Google a whirl) before someone gets killed. There isn't much of a mystery here, but there are the usual pleasures of following Brunetti as he walks around the city he knows like the back of his hand; goes home for lunch with his bookish wife, Paola, and their two teenagers; has dinner with his wealthy and surprisingly sensible in-laws; outmaneuvers his dim boss, Vice-Questore Giuseppe Patta; and looks the other way while Patta's supercompetent secretary, Signorina Elettra, finds the information he needs in a possibly extra-legal manner. Leon begins each of her mysteries with an epigraph from an opera, and she obviously loves placing Brunetti backstage at La Fenice during a performance. Come for the Venetian atmosphere and backstage tour of the opera house, and don't worry too much about the crime. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.