The Jewels of Paradise

By: Donna Leon

Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell

Length: 8 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's summary

Donna Leon has won heaps of critical praise and legions of fans for her best-selling mystery series featuring Commissario Guido Brunetti, one of contemporary crime fiction’s most beloved characters. With The Jewels of Paradise, Leon takes listeners beyond the world of the Venetian Questura in her first stand-alone novel.

Caterina Pellegrini is a native Venetian, and like so many of them, she’s had to leave home to pursue her career elsewhere, mostly abroad. With a doctorate in baroque opera from Vienna, she lands in Birmingham, England, as a research fellow and assistant professor. Birmingham, however, is no Venice, so when she gets word of a position back home, Caterina jumps at the opportunity. The job is an unusual one. After nearly three centuries, two locked trunks, believed to contain the papers of a once-famous, now largely forgotten baroque composer, have been discovered. The composer was deeply connected in religious and political circles, but he died childless, and now two Venetian men, descendants of his cousins, each claim inheritance. With rumors of a treasure, they aren’t about to share the possible fortune.

Caterina has been hired to attend the opening of the trunks and examine any enclosed papers to discover the “testamentary disposition” of the composer. But when her research takes her in unexpected directions and a silent man follows her through the streets, she begins to wonder just what secrets these trunks may hold.

©2012 Donna Leon and Diogenes Verlag AG (P)2012 AudioGO

This lady knows how to write a mystery!!!!!

This is one of the most engaging mysteries I have ever read. It's not about a murder. It's a very different kind of mystery. I can't tell you what the mystery is because you realize what it is as the story develops. The author (I have read all of her Commissario Brunetti books which are fantastic) develops characters fully. She has a way of doing it in a very short amount of time. Her descriptions of people and settings are excellent. I was near Venice last summer and made a day trip there to bring to more reality the settings of her novels. Venice was just as she had described it.

Except for some slams of religion and the Catholic Church (I am Catholic), the stories and ethics are good. Actually, a few of the things she objects to in the Church are, in fact, matters of great controversy. But, she is an atheist (and I am not). Anyhow, the only problem with this book is how to stop reading (listening to) it so you can do the other things you have to do every day, LOL! Can't wait till Donna Leon writes another book!!!

The narrator is first rate!!!

Not Brunetti

This was a non-taxing, easy listen. An interesting story - just a bit bland.

A mystery without explicit violence and vulgarity

The story really drew me in--I enjoyed it enough to listen to it three times. It is different and I liked it.

Jewels of Paradise

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

I enjoyed this book, I was surprised when the story ended. I had developed empathy for the main character and was disappointed that she hadn't resolved glaring issues in her life.

If you’ve listened to books by Donna Leon before, how does this one compare?

This book is similar, love the glimpses into Venetian life. I enjoyed the main character. I admire the way Donna Leon gives you insight into the characters' motivation through their actions, more than through narration.

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

The narrator is very talented. What I find maddening about Donna Leon's audiobooks is the Italian accented English. Why can't they be narrated like Andrea Camilleri's books? We all know the story takes place in Italy. Does every word and thought of the characters have to have an Italian accent? I wanted to bang my head at times. It must be the author's choice to have them narrated this way.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

no. Most of the action is cerebral. It would be a dull movie.

An interesting detour for Donna Leon

If you read Donna Leon for Brunetti and the delightful Signora Elettra you may not enjoy this book. It has a slow start but I enjoyed it and found the historical research fascinating.

Very enjoyable.

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I really need to get to Venice! Love this audiobook and enjoyed the narrator too. Surprised how much I enjoyed it - a nice change from her Guido Brunetti series.

Suffered through it

I love Leon’s Venice in her Brunetti series … this was not enjoyable in the least

So dull and uninteresting!

We could not figure out where this story was going, and after a while didn’t care much anymore. So much extraneous narrative, leading nowhere, little comments about Venice, etc. Annoying to have so many quotations in Italian — which I have some training in — without translation. (I wonder whether the print book does translate these?). I understand that the author is tired of writing about Guido Brunetti, but maybe she should just retire.

Disappointing no narrator

Love Donna Leon but this narrator almost made me give up on this book. Her ‘Italian’ accent was so odd that it was almost comic! Very interesting story.

Amazing read!!

Filled with history, references to religion, politics, all the intrigues. Highly recommended! Keeps you guessing until the very end.