Inspector Brunetti, Venice's finest, has another murder to solve and this one involves the meat-processing industry. The usual characters appear and there's a lot of talk about the worsening conditions in Venice due to modernisation and tourism. Like other Brunetti novels, this one is an easy read and enjoyable in many ways, especially if you know Venice.

This is Ms. Leon’s first standalone novel after a long series of mysteries featuring Commissario Brunetti. In “The Jewel of Paradis” Caterina Pellegrini, an opera expert from Manchester comes back to Venice to research the contents of trunks believed to have belonged to a renowned baroque composer, Agostino Steffani, so that his descendants can divide the estate.

This is one of the most difficult books I read in a long time. Ms Leons serves up so much historical detail, obscure names and subjects. It seemed this story showcases more the author knowledge in Italian, cultural events and classics in music and literature. So, if you are not into baroque opera you may find this story heavy, neither enjoyable nor interesting. 

There may be a mystery somewhere but the actual story line is so sparse and boring I was hoping for a quick ending….”This is definitely a paradise lost…..” I have no more to say……

I read a few reviews about this while I was reading it and I have to agree a bit with some of the criticism that it's a bit same-old. However that's also part of the charm of the Inspector Brunetti books: finding again the familiar streets of Venice, the food, the family dynamic, the often lax police procedures of Italy.
The plot involves the theft of rare books but a murder also takes place which is connected to the thefts. There are the usual set of characters, police and shady types. It's a good quick read and enjoyable enough - like discovering a old friend.

Commissario Guido Brunetti’s father in law, il Conte Falier, has asked Brunetti to check into rumours surrounding his friend Gonzalo. It would appear that Gonzalo, a wealthy older man, wants to adopt a much younger man as his son. Under Italian inheritance law, this man would then become the heir to the majority of Gonzalo’s wealth. Brunetti meets with Gonzalo and not long after the older man dies. When Gonzalo’s friend Berta arrives in Venice for his memorial she is murdered. It falls to Brunetti to discover why.

Here Donna Leon has taken a unique legal issue and turned it into the catalyst for her story. How entertaining can a book that revolves around the inheritance laws of Italy be? Very is the answer.

This book, in fact this series, is a crime novel where the crime is secondary. It is, of course, the driving force of the story, but one which becomes almost incidental. Here the murder doesn’t occur until nearly two-thirds the way through the book but the story is no less entertaining because of it. In fact the reader, or this one at least, almost forgets there is supposed to be a crime taking place.

The Brunetti series is much more than a crime series. It’s characters make it. As the series progresses the reader watches Brunetti’s children grow up, see his friendships develop and follow him as he falls even more in love with his wife.  He is an atypical fictional detective. He loves his wife, has a happy home. He’s not a seasoned drinker, except of course for the odd glass of grappa or wine with dinner. He is passionate about his job, aware of the foibles and limitations of his profession and frustrated by both the political machinations of his country and of the visitors to his city.

I have said before that the characters are the real stars of this series. They are, in my opinion, the driving force behind the books. The reader returns time and again because of the relationships between Brunetti and the people who intersect his life. Signorina Elettra is the planet around which everyone else in the Questura orbits. Brunetti is shaken to find she is going on annual leave and from the day she departs the building works on units of time measured in her return to work.

Patta, Brunetti’s boss and thorn in his side, is seen in a slightly different light. He seeks Brunetti’s help on a personal matter that shows him to care for someone other than himself. And shows that he’s not as blind to the extra curricular skills of Signorina Elettra as he had led them all to believe.

Brunetti is not one prone to chasing suspects across a city or being struck by the sudden realisation of all the clues falling into place, the red herrings left behind. There are no red herrings, there are no deep insights or strokes of luck that reveal who the perpetrator was. If he went running after a suspect he’d be more likely to end up in the Grand Canal.

Donna Leon does not shy away from using her books to comment on environmental matters or as a commentary on the political corruption and occasional ineptitude of her adopted country. The police are often thwarted in their abilities to do their jobs by political red tape. The public are wary of helping, a fear borne over many years of assisting a government department. This latest book offers a fascinating insight into an area of Italian law that I knew nothing about and how people will try to circumvent such laws. There are other facets of Italian society shown, from the expected actions of children towards their elders, the consideration of friends and family and how business operates on a day to day basis.

The stories of the series feel real. The people feel real, the location easily summoned in the mind’s eye. As in real life there are times when things don’t wrap up neatly. Real life doesn’t always deliver a happy ending, or rightful condemnation and so on occasion in this series there is no rightful punishment, just quietly festering resentment that life doesn’t always comply with one’s wishes. Even when the right person is caught, and punishment is promised just off the page, the reader is still left with a disquiet, a sadness that humans have quietly been destroying themselves and others for centuries and will go on doing so.

This is book 28 in the series. If you’ve not read the other 27 then treat yourself. I envy anyone who has the whole back story to discover, a series of characters to fall in love with and many a Venetian calle to wander down.

I pick up every new Brunetti book with the sound of my soul singing at its return. It is with indescribable mixture of satisfaction and sadness that I turn the final page. Unto Us a Son is Given was no different. As always, a joy to read.