I started reading this about a week ago and got about half way through. It was my bedtime reading because the other book I'm working on was a bit dense. I've read Donna Leon before and found her books OK.
Not this one. I found the story very contrived. Surely Brunetti would know more about fishing and pollution in the lagoon than the dialogue would have you believe. After all, not only is he an intelligent policeman, he's lived in Venice all his life. His boss's secretary volunteering to go to the island to help was also contrived, probably to make the story more exciting later on.
But I didn't get that far. I could see more or less what was coming, the suspense at least, if not the actual resolution of the plot. I thought the book was garbage and not worth wasting any more time on. ( )

Oh….Signorina Elettra done wrong!!! ( )

Every time I open a new book by Donna Leon, I'm introduced to another new Venetian community. This time it's the sandspit which is home to the close-knit fishermen of Pellestrina. Two murders, a community that won't tell its secrets, two Police employees who go incognito to the place to dig out its secrets.... all this adds up to an exciting story that ends in an unusually bloody and violent way. As always, it's not an 'and they lived happily ever after' conclusion ( )

This was a change of pace from Leon's other novels so far in the Brunetti series. Most of the action takes place on an outlying spit of land separating the lagoon of Venice from the Adriatic. Two murders have taken place and the inhabitants of the (literally and figuratively) insular fishing community close ranks against the outside world... even the Venetians can scarcely understand their dialect, let alone their attitude. Yet one of the victims is somehow an outsider and unmourned. What can he possibly have done to turn his entire community against him? Meanwhile, Signora Elettra leaves her desk, her computer, her network of informants, and her floral arrangements and goes on vacation to stay with her cousin who married a fisherman. She picks up virtually no information, but falls hard for an attractive young man who is extremely well dressed. After closing the book, it occurred to me that it really was out of character for Elettra not to do a background search on the fellow. Brunetti has to do the background search himself (good thing, he was relying on Elettra far too much).

Refreshingly, at the end of the book it is clear that the legal case against the murderer is airtight and for once, the criminal is likely to face a lengthy prison sentence. This is not the usual ending to a book in this series! ( )

A Sea of Troubles is Book #10 in Donna Leon’s Commissario Guido Brunetti Mystery series.
This series is all things Italian, all things Venice and Commissario Brunetti is the star detective.
This is a disturbing story.
On the island of Pellestrina, south of the Lido on the Venetian lagoon, a small boat suddenly explodes killing 2 local clam fishermen. It soon becomes clear that the fire was deliberately set and Commissario Brunetti decides to investigate.

I don’t know if Ms. Leon set out to disparage Italian law, culture, code of ethics and morality, but
every title has very (this title is #10 of 32 as of 2023) unsatisfying and frustrating endings for me. The everyday tales of graft, corruption, bribery and revenge have me reeling at times.
I still read the books - Italy, and Venice in particular, is a very alluring location. And Brunetti is an appealing character. Very well-written. **** ( )