I'm surprised by how miserable a lot of the comments and reviews about this book are. I suspect a lot of that stems from the fact that it's not a Brunetti book - I think it's the only non-series book that Donna Leon has written but I may be wrong about that. I enjoyed it - Leon has stuck with Venice but moved to an entirely different kind of mystery with a female musicologist researching some chests of paperwork belonging to a seventeenth century composer. It's a quiet sort of a plot for the most part but I found it all interesting and was surprised to search and find that the composer at the centre of the story wasn't a fictional creation. The book certainly has a few shortcomings, the end of the story was tied up very quickly without explaining all the details. I think that may have worked better than a long drawn out conclusion though, I could imagine the holes in the plot being closed up rather than having them tediously explained to me and my perhaps not being happy with the explanations. I liked the characters and am kind of disappointed that there's probably not another series starting here. I would quite have liked a family saga about Caterina and her sisters! I'm a big Donna Leon fan, and I've read all but a handful of her Commissario Brunetti series, but this book was very, very boring. The research and back and forth between the correspondents who were working on the research was tedious and unnecessarily complicated. There was very little action in the book, and even the things that make the Brunetti books the most charming - descriptions of food and of Venice - were mostly missing and dull when they were included. Instead, it seemed the Leon wanted to engage readers in conversations about music and religion, but these mostly amounted to lectures or monologues. The "action" that was touted on the book summary took place in about three pages and was not significant when it did occur. I did like the three "main" female characters, but found the other characters cartoonishly nondescript. I'm glad Leon's considering expanding into stand-alone books or new series, but I hope she does a better job with her next attempt, if there is one.
What do You think about The Jewels Of Paradise (2012)?
Plot and central character less engaging than the Commissario Guido Brunetti books.
—savage
I like her writing, but this was far from being her best book. Neat ending.
—Joy
