Donna Leon
Donna Leon
Donna Leonis the American author of a series of crime novels set in Venice, Italy and featuring the fictional hero Commissario Guido Brunetti...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth29 September 1942
CountryUnited States of America
appears artistic dinner however knew man musical shares similar spend tastes
The character I created, 'Commissario Brunetti,' who appears in all my books, shares similar reading, artistic and musical tastes with me. Subconsciously, I knew that if I was to spend however long it would take to write this book with him, this man would have to be someone I'd like to have dinner with.
couple deaths five last maybe six
There has been a lot of suspicious, maybe hazing, deaths in the last couple of years-in the last five or six years.
american-author beats happens might
I have no memory for what happens in what books. I don't know when I might remember a scene, but beats me what book it's in because there are 14 of them now.
music vocal
I listen to Handel's vocal music, almost exclusively.
admire beyond clue dickens sure women
I admire Dickens beyond words. He is one of the greatest plotters of all times. Didn't have a clue about women, but he sure could plot.
less state suspicion tend
Italians tend to be less rigidly moral and law-abiding than do Anglo-Saxons. They also have a profound suspicion of the state and most of its agencies.
baroque comments festivals involved music opera
I'm involved with a baroque opera company here in Italy. I write some of their booklet material, comments on operas. I also write for some baroque opera festivals because this music is my real passion.
almost best came friendship lucky remain time venice
I came to Venice for the first time in 1968 and was lucky enough to make the acquaintanceship, and then the friendship, of two Venetians, Roberta and Franco, who remain my best friends here after almost 50 years.
writing kissing letters
The Germans and Austrians are very polite, the Swiss are very reserved and the Spanish usually kiss me. The Brits write me letters.
book talking ideas
I was at La Fenice opera house back in 1991 with friends, and we started talking about a conductor whom none of us liked. Somehow there was an escalation, and we started talking about how to kill him, where to kill him. This struck me as a good idea for a book.
fate hands enemy
Oh, so seldom does fate cast our enemy into our hands, to do with as we will
wall stupid believe
We buy things. We wear them or put them on our walls, or sit on them, but anyone who wants to can take them away from us. Or break them. ... Long after he's dead, someone else will own those stupid little boxes, and then someone after him, just as someone owned them before he did. But no one ever thinks of that: objects survive us and go on living. It's stupid to believe we own them. And it's sinful for them to be so important.
film
I don't go to the movies because I don't like films.
pleasure persons
I do not take any pleasure whatsoever in being a famous person.