Willful Behavior Audiobook By Donna Leon cover art

Willful Behavior

A Commissario Guido Brunetti Mystery

Preview
Try for $0.00
Access a growing selection of included Audible Originals, audiobooks, and podcasts.
You will get an email reminder before your trial ends.
Audible Plus auto-renews for $7.95/mo after 30 days. Upgrade or cancel anytime.

Willful Behavior

By: Donna Leon
Narrated by: Steven Crossley
Try for $0.00

$7.95 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $22.32

Buy for $22.32

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use, License, and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Cancel

About this listen

Mystery lovers everywhere are addicted to Donna Leon's ever-honorable Commissario Guido Brunetti and her portrayal of Venice's beautiful but sinister byways and canals.

In Willful Behavior, Brunetti is approached for a favor by one of his wife's students. Intelligent and serious, Claudia Leonardo asks for his help in obtaining a pardon for a crime once committed by her now-dead grandfather. Brunetti thinks little of it - until Claudia is found dead. Soon, another corpse and an extraordinary art collection lead Brunetti to long-buried secrets of Nazi collaboration and the exploitation of Italian Jews - secrets few in Italy want revealed.

Death in Venice: investigate more of Guido Brunetti's cases.©2002 Donna Leon and Diogenes Berlag AG Zurich (P)2011 AudioGO
Fiction Hard-Boiled International Mystery & Crime Literature & Fiction Mystery Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Suspense Thriller & Suspense Italy
adbl_web_global_use_to_activate_T1_webcro805_stickypopup
Intriguing Storyline • Well-crafted Characters • Engaging Mystery • Fascinating Plot Twists • Colorful Exploits
Highly rated for:
All stars
Most relevant  
Italian setting, characters and culture. With a British accent?! Narrator good — just a poor match. Doesn’t convey the nuances of previous stories with distractions of mispronunciations etc.

Italy with a British accent

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Where does Willful Behavior rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Near the bottom.

What did you like best about this story?

Guido Brunetti.

What didn’t you like about Steven Crossley’s performance?

He was the wrong person to narrate a Guido Brunetti story. I have listened to every Guido Brunetti story and David Colacci is the man!!!!!!!!!!! Mr. Crossley reminded me of A HARD DAY'S NIGHT and HELP! It was just too much for me - I listened because I wanted to hear the whole story but I won't re-listen.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Not really - couldn't get past the narration long enough.

Any additional comments?

Of all the Brunetti books this is my least favourite and I'm not sure how much of that is OTHER than the narration. I'll re-listen to the others.

Couldn't stand the narration

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

strong finish to a classic plotline. Leon pulls it off again. A good read indeed.

Slow start but...

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

British accent narrator is really distracting

Fairly ambitious story with honor subtext. Good tale in the collection

British accent narrator

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

The story was okay but the narrator was distracting with his British accent. You would think he would at least learn how to pronounce Italian names and other words. Actually made it hard to follow the plot. I enjoy this series but will avoid any other books with this narrator.

Disappointing Narration

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

The story is above average for this series. But Steven Crossley With his British accent diminishes this audio version. His narration gives no nuance to any of the characters and if you are accustomed tolistening to Donna Leon‘s books narrated by David Colacci, It is quite disappointing.

Disappointing narration

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

While the story was as enjoyable as all the Brunetti mysteries, the performance was awful. Listening to an English actor made me feel I was listening to a Agatha Christie mystery - certainly not a story set in Venice.

English Accent???

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

The characters just doesn’t have the warmth and depth — the connections to each other that David Colacci brings. It was well done, I suppose, but I was so terribly disappointed it wasn’t narrated by Colacci that I couldn’t get past the first chapter.

Not the same

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

I love the series and each book ... I would have loved this if I had read it ... But the switch of narrators between this and the the prior ... And following books ... Left me un-enamoured. Continuity in voice, I've found, is so important when listening.

Hate to say it

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

The narrator is new (in my experience) to the series and was a poor choice. Everyone was voiced with British(!) accents and he managed to make Elettra sound simple and foolish. He didn’t even pronounce Chiara’s name correctly!

The story, like many in the series is really grim and sad, with no feeling of justice or resolution, but I kind of expect that from Leon/Brunetti. I would have given up on this one immediately but I really wanted to see what would happen next with Brunetti and Elettra after the events of the last book, but even that was disappointing.

I do think the narrator would be good for a book set in Britain, but I think he needs to stay away from Italy.

Terrible Choice of Narrator

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

See more reviews