This was a comfortable return to Brunetti World with all of its regular touchstones. The outside world has moved on and there are references to a post-pandemic situation where some are reluctant to wear masks or are forgetful about it. Wife Paola is still teaching at the university and kids Chiara and Raffi are still in school (after 30 years!!). The timeless Brunetti household is an oasis from any turmoil of the outside world, where Brunetti can curl up with his favourite classical Roman or Greek literature and consult Paola for her opinion on his current case. It is a cozy world which is only occasionally interrupted by the criminal or ethical problems of those outside it. Brunetti is approached for a favor by Elisabetta Foscarini, a woman he knows casually, but her mother was good to Brunetti's mother, so he feels obliged to at least look into the matter privately, and not as official police business. Foscarini's son-in-law, Enrico Fenzo, has alarmed his wife (her daughter) by confessing their family might be in danger because of something he's involved with. Since Fenzo is an accountant, Brunetti logically suspects the cause of danger is related to the finances of a client. Yet his clients seem benign: an optician, a restaurateur, a charity established by his father-in-law. However, when his friend's daughter's place of work is vandalized, Brunetti asks his own favors--that his colleagues Claudia Griffoni, Lorenzo Vianello, and Signorina Elettra Zorzi assist his private investigation, which soon enough turns official as they uncover the dark and Janus-faced nature of a venerable Italian institution. I’m in awe of their parenting skills, and I would happily sit down to any meal at their dining table. Si buscáis acción trepidante o una investigación policial al uso, no lo vais a encontrar aquí. Esta no es una historia para devorar, si no para saborear lentamente (como si de uno de los deliciosos platos preparados por Paola se tratase): sus palabras, sus cafés, sus calles. Venecia y Brunetti, una vez más, no decepcionan.

What prompted this? A body was found. It was a pleasant Buddhist Sri Lankan, Inesh Kavinda, who was living in the garden shed of the Palazzo Zaffo Sri Leonie.Give Unto Others as the 31st book of the Commissario Brunetti series is unlikely to be filmed, as the long running German TV series wrapped up after 26 films with the episode Stille Wasser (Quiet Waters) (2019) based on book #26 Earthly Remains (2017).

Donna Leon has a wonderful feel for the hidden evils that lie below the façade of the magical city, and Brunetti, sturdy family man and cynic, is an endearing guide into the machinations of Italian society.” —Marcel Berlins, The Times (London) on Blood from a Stone Donna Leon discussed Give Unto Others in a March 12, 2022 online interview with the Poisoned Pen Bookstore which you can watch on YouTube here. The book is mis-titled in the video description as Give Unto Death. Brunetti is forced to confront the price of loyalty, to his past and in his work, as a seemingly innocent request leads him into troubling waters. The beginning was the most fast pace and one of the sweetest parts of the book. They were called to the gay pride parade because there this year was a fight. Times are changing. Acceptance of people’s preferences and differences are opening up. The bulk of the time there was about a peaceful and kind undocumented Sri Larkin immigrant named Insen who was living in a guest house on a mansion’s property. And about his dog Sarah. There was a female Benediction monastery behind it on the compo who had a lovely garden with fruit trees. The garden by the mansion was overgrown and the mansion itself was very rundown. The couple who lived there were very badly matched. It was sad. A hand was found first in the water and that led to the finding of Insen’s body. Who is he? What’s he doing in Venice? Why undocumented? Was he a Tamil Tiger? And other questions were raised.

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To Guido's surprise, he recognises the murdered man, he had met him the previous day, the undocumented Sri Lankan, Inesh Kavinda, a peace loving Buddhist who did various job's for the Palazzo's owners, a Italian academic Professor Renato Molin and his wife, Gloria Forcolin, who he had met previously. There seems to be no motive for Kavinda's killing, accounts seem to bear out that he was a good man, although there are papers in his home that make no sense. They relate to Italy's turbulent political and violent history, with its kidnappings and disappearances, but why would the Sri Lankan man be interested in this? Guido follows a number of threads, aided by the able Signorina Elettra, who refines a method she learns of at a conference, along with Vianello and Commissario Claudia Griffoni. Regarding the symptoms of dementia, which may go on for a long time before a diagnosis is reached: "In his mother's case the symptoms had been snaking around in their lives for years before either he or his brother Sergio took notice of them." The beauty for me in these books is in the little things, the details of everyday life and small interactions between the city’s people. An atmosphere is created of a place unchanged on the surface but ever changing underneath. Brunetti harbours a certain resentment in respect of the incremental changes ongoing in this place, but isn’t that true of all of us as we reach a certain age? And as the story settles into the investigation of a recognisable crime, he gathers those police officers close to him (characters well known to regular readers) and, between coffees, they ruminate on possible motives and root around to discover information that might lead them to a suspect. As always, it’s beautifully done and once more I experienced a pang of regret when I reached the story’s end and had to say farewell to these people and this place until (hopefully) the next book in the series is published. So overall this felt rather slight to me even though the 'crime' speaks volumes - and I found the plotting rather holey, not least the perpetrator and their actions. Still, it's always fun to be in Brunetti's company even if this isn't a showcase book in the series.