• Friends in High Places

  • A Commissario Guido Brunetti Mystery, Book 9
  • By: Donna Leon
  • Narrated by: David Colacci
  • Length: 8 hrs and 54 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (668 ratings)

Access a growing selection of included Audible Originals, audiobooks, and podcasts.
You will get an email reminder before your trial ends.
Audible Plus auto-renews for $7.95/mo after 30 days. Upgrade or cancel anytime.
Friends in High Places  By  cover art

Friends in High Places

By: Donna Leon
Narrated by: David Colacci
Try for $0.00

$7.95 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $20.24

Buy for $20.24

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

In Friends in High Places, Commissario Guido Brunetti is visited by a young bureaucrat investigating the lack of approval for the construction of Brunetti's apartment years before. What began as a red-tape headache ends in murder when the bureaucrat is later found dead after a mysterious fall from a scaffold. Brunetti starts an investigation that will take him into the unfamiliar and dangerous areas of drug abuse and loan-sharking, and will reveal, once again, what a difference it makes in Venice to have friends in high places.

©2000 Donna Leon and Diogenes Verlag AG, Zurich (P)2012 AudioGO, Ltd.

What listeners say about Friends in High Places

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    362
  • 4 Stars
    208
  • 3 Stars
    79
  • 2 Stars
    12
  • 1 Stars
    7
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    425
  • 4 Stars
    134
  • 3 Stars
    38
  • 2 Stars
    5
  • 1 Stars
    2
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    312
  • 4 Stars
    191
  • 3 Stars
    77
  • 2 Stars
    12
  • 1 Stars
    4

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

ANOTHER GREAT COMMISSARIO BRUNETTI MYSTERY

I'm addicted to this series! (I almost stopped writing reviews because of 2 "Audible Haters" who have systematically gone through all of my submissions and marking them "Not Helpful" for no reason other than spite. But last week, I reported the harassment so the website reps are investigating to find out WHO the perpetrators are.)

Although this series can be a bit inconsistent, overall most of the novels are worth the rare miss. The characters are finely drawn and the added detail about Venice makes the listener feel as if we are really there. Narrator David Colacci is perfect. Not so much a thriller than a great detective mystery, the slower pace is worth the plot twists and turns which always keep you guessing.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

25 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Corruption and the abuse of power in Venice

In what may be the quintessential Guido Brunetti novel, our hero faces unanswerable questions of right and wrong in both his personal and professional lives.

I will confess to being a die-hard Brunetti fan, but within the series not all books are created equal. This one will fall into my top three.

We see plenty of the Brunetti offspring and of two of my favorite female characters in contemporary fiction - Guido's aristocratic wife Paola and the power-behind-the-throne at the questura, Signorina Elettra.

Although Brunetti often despairs of the convoluted bureaucracy of Venice, here he becomes completely entangled within its strangling tendrils. Against his better judgement, he uses his connections and social debts to uncover the truth regarding the death a man he met in oddly upsetting circumstances. Along the way, he drags many others into the maelstrom he started.

David Colacci is Guido Brunetti to my ear. As always, he does a fine job with this book giving personality to my favorite Venetian Commissario.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

One of her best...

Where does Friends in High Places rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Have always liked her stories of Comissario Brunetti and descriptions of one of my favorite cities, Venice. I think Donna Leon is perfecting her craft with each book, and Friends in High Places absolutely finds her at the top of her game. David Colacci is one of the best narrators working today.
The story itself was fast moving, had enough characters to make it interesting but not confusing, and kept my interest throughout.
Am looking forward to her next and next and next!! Keep them coming, Miss Leon!!

What did you like best about this story?

Nice pace...great characters throughout.

What about David Colacci’s performance did you like?

100% wonderful! Best in the business.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Brunetti & Venice...totally Win/Win!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

If this is series' best, I won't try any others

It starts with three chapters about Venice bureaucracy over building permits so I seriously considered giving up. But then the police procedural kicks in as a bureaucrat ends up dead. It’s a solid, very well-written, kind of high-brow mystery with a well-considered philosophical discussion about using friends to get out of legal trouble, for things small and big. This is supposed to be her best book in the Commissario Guido Brunetti series, winning a Silver Dagger award. But it just didn’t compel me enough so I don’t think I'll read more. And, frankly, the gender dynamics were sexist — example: Brunetti and his wife Paola both work full-time jobs but she does the cooking and cleaning, and he stands there watching while she does it. Bechdel test: Fail. Grade: B

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Not my favorite but still good

Donna Leon writes a great story! I love these books. However, this was not as good as others. I didn't like the ending and I felt there was at least one storyline that went nowhere. That being said, Guido, and Paola, and Chiara, and Rafi, as well as everyone at the Questura, and Venice itself are the best characters and I love escaping to their world. The narration by David Colacci is top notch. I'm glad there are so many more books.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Friends in High Places

I love this book in the Guido Brunetti series! It was / is very interesting. The details in this book (and all of the other ones) is very good. It doesn’t matter if you listen to the book series in order they are stand alone books in the series so they don’t build up on each other.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Intriguing plot and superb narration

I love all the Brunetti books I've read so far, having read up to this one, more or less in succession. I adore the main character and the way he interacts with everyone and everything around him.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Never being able to guess the ending

I enjoyed the multi- layered characters in the story. Keep me engaged and interested to the end.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Strong start

I like the examination of ethics in this book. The story had legs, but the ending felt unfinished. Good narration.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Easy listen with an unsatisfactory ending

If you like a slow moving story that isn’t too complicated this is mostly good. There isn’t a lot of action but there is a lot of description and the main character, Brunetti, is very likable. Also her representation of Italians’ overarching cynicism regarding all things governmental is sometimes charming and mostly infuriating, but so much a part of real life in Italy. The narrator does a good job. In summary, it’s not Ian Rankin or Louise Penny but good enough.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!