Interesting topic of discussion. Illegal adoptions, people who want to be parents buy children from people who don't want them. What happens after they're busted? Where do the kids go? Their birth parents don't want them back, a foster home is most likely their destiny. Sometimes, "the right thing" is not the right thing at all.

Two fishermen are found dead on the Island of Pallestrina and Brunetti tries to investigate as much as he can in a town where people just do not talk to strangers. And anyone who wasn't born there is considered a stranger. But Signorina Elettra happens to have family there and she usually spends her summers on the island, so she decides (against Brunetti's advice) to go there immediately to try to gather information without revealing that she currently works for the police. So what happens where you know the killer is on that island? Is signorina Elettra in danger? And, is Brunetti having romantic feelings towards her or is he just worried for her safety?

One of the reasons I love this series is because it's not action packed and it's all a little more realistic because of that (except Paula's amazing ability to have a big job and still have everything perfect at home). Well, this one is an exception. The end had me tense and worried and I loved how different it was. For the first time we see things from signorina Elettra's point of view and it turns out she is a great leading character. It was also great to finally address the issue of defining Brunetti's feelings about her.

4.5 stars!

I'm also counting this one for the Cruisin' Thru the Cozies Reading Challenge 2014

Comissario Brunetti is visited by a building inspector who tells him there are some irregularities with his apartment. A few weeks later, that same inspector calls him, telling him he thinks there's something weird in the place where he works, but never gets the chance to explain. He is dead within the next 24 hours. Everything seems like an accident, but Brunetti has lived in Venetia long enough to know nothing is so simple.

Although not one of the best in the series, it was still a nice, quick read.

I'm counting this one for the Cruisin' Thru the Cozies Reading Challenge 2014

One of the things I love the most about these books is the relationship Brunetti has with his wife, Paola and in this book that relationship is put to the test from page 5.

There has been an act of vandalism against a travel agency and Brunetti is called in the middle of the night to go to the Questura and take care of things. Especially because the person responsible for the vandalism is his wife. How to act when their careers and personal lives intersect in such a violent way? And, what to do when you also throw in there a murder?

Four stars!

[I'm counting this for my Cruisin' Thru The Cozies 2014 Reading Challenge and as the letter "F" in the 2014 Alphabet Soup Reading Challenge]