Death At La Fenice by Donna Leon

 

During intermission at the opera, a tragedy occurs.  The conductor, Maestro Helmut Wellauer, has been poisoned by cyanide and died.  The opera goes on and Vice Commissario Guido Brunetti, is called. The conductor is renowned as the best at his job and it had been a coup getting him to perform in Venice.  Who could have killed him?

The list of suspects is not short.  There is his wife, who is thirty years his junior and who inherits a fortune although she seems to have been in love with him.  There is the soprano in the opera who Wellauer had been threatening with revelation of her secrets.  The director had been promised a part for a friend and now Wellauer had reneged on his promise.  There were scandals with him and women going back fifty years, any of whom could have retained a grudge.  

This is the first in the Guido Brunetti series.  He is a laid back detective, relying more on interrogations than forensics.  Guido is married to the daughter of a very wealthy Venice family and they aren't thrilled at her choice.  He has two children, a daughter who wants to grow up too fast and a son who doesn't want to grow up at all.  Guido depends on a network of friends and contacts to help him unearth the motive behind the death and the conclusion was one I didn't see coming.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.