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.

An elderly family friend of his father-in-law and therefore of Commissario Guido Brunetti, contemplates adopting an adult man. His father-in-law asks Brunetti to intervene or at least talk some sense into the very wealthy,eighty-five year old Gonzalo. This adopted son would be the sole beneficiary of a more than substantial inheritance. But he is not the only one who looks upon this scheme with disguised,or not,horror. When Gozalo,while visiting his estranged family in Spain, unexpectedly dies from a brain haemorrhage waters start to stir in Venice. And old friend comes to Venice so she can organise a memorial service but just hours after her arrival she is found strangled in her hotel room. It is Brunetti's task to unravel any connection between Gonzalo and this victim and to find a murderer.... A Donna Leon novel hardly starts with murder and mayhem on page one,and it is not different here. And sometimes this slowly building up of both the story and the tension works and sometimes it doesn't and it is not to everyone's liking (this is by the way the 28th in the Commissario Guido Brunetti series,quite a feat...),but here it all comes together perfectly. It captures and keeps the attention and the curiosity of the reader well. The characters are well developed and it feels very (Venetian) Italian(food,way of life...) And then there is Venice,not exactly heaven on earth and not exactly inhabited by angels ,but still fascinating and intriguing enough to play a discreet leading role in this series. Yes,both Brunetti and Venice are back on track...

Little has grown up in San Francisco, but is a native of Italy. For a good portion of her childhood she was raised by her Aunt Sira in the States. Little and Sira packed up and left Italty after an incident happened concerning her mother and father that caused Little's mother to leave them. Now, Little's father has died and Sira has asked Little to come back to Italy. Little reluctantly returns to her home knowing that she must help sift through her father's things. Little's return also brings back partial memories, things she can't piece together from her time with her mother and father-a symbol, an argument. Little tries to piece together what secret her father was hiding and what made her mother leave; however, the one person who could tell her is no longer alive and Sira is keeping her mouth shut. Little embarks on a trip around Italy trying to figure out the secrets her family has kept, but may unlock more within herself.

A journey of self-discovery and family secrets, All The Way to Italy is a fascinating adventure. With poetic writing, some of the first lines drew me in: "She wanted to tap the man's shoulder and ask him if a place can ever shake off the people who had belonged to it, or if those tendrils would feed her nostalgia forever..." I was also immediately curious about Little; we never find out her real name and her situation is unique. Sira was an immediate favorite with her sage advice and marvelous attitude. Through Sira, there are glimpses of what Little's father was like along with amazing stories of the siblings during WWII. However, Sira is reluctant to give up her brother's secret, setting Little on a trip around Italy. With Little's adventures, we get a very intimate view of some wonderful places around the country that are usually left out of the travel guides. I loved Little's description of Rome as " a city that had adapted to modern times without losing its antiquity." Through Little's trip, Little does not figure out anything about her family, although she does discover more about herself and what she would like to do in life. I do wish the story line with Little's mother, Delila was fleshed out a little more as well as some of the historical sections. There are a few hops back through time to when Sira and Little's father were children during World War II and it seems like there was a lot of potential to build the context of the mystery with Little's father. Overall, a heartwarming and beautiful story of finding your way. 


This book was received for free in return for an honest review.

Fifteen years ago Manuela Lando-Continui was involved in a tragic accident, almost drowning in a canal. Left with life changing brain damage, she is left to go old with the mind of a young child. In the present day Manuela’s grandmother appeals to Brunetti to look into the incident, convinced that due to Manuela’s intense fear of water that she would have been nowhere near the canal. Sceptical at first Brunetti looks into the case, discovering a dark secret, and someone willing to murder to keep it buried.

 

It is always a pleasure to revisit Venice and Commisario Brunetti. It is one of the highlights on my reading landscape and one that tends to rarely fail to entertain and delight me. The Waters of Eternal Youth didn’t fail in either regard.

 

It is sometimes the case that in Donna Leon’s books the crime that purportedly drives the story often takes a back seat the characters and their tales. In this instance the crime and events that follow form an integral part of the tale and the characters are placed in the shadows somewhat. That isn’t to say that the story is lacking in character, far from it. All the central players are there, Brunetti and his family, Vianello and Claudia Griffoni and of course the incomparable Signorina Elettra, whose one-upmanship against the conniving Lieutenant Scarpa brings welcome light relief. The most effecting character is Manuela, who’s life now is one of perpetual childhood, aging as normal physically but with the mind and spirit of  a young child, the result of an incident that appeared on the surface to be a tragic accident.

 

The story pulls together well, despite the fact the that initial catalyst occurs off page and sometime in the past. The clues are well laid out, perhaps a little too well laid as I had worked out who the culprit was about half way through the book. During the course of the series there have been some novels where the ending is not clear cut, sometimes Brunetti is frustrated by the legal and political system and the retribution of the perpetrators is sometimes out of reach. In this novel however that is not the case and the ending sees Brunetti’s skills played out perfectly.

 

As with many of her novels, Donna Leon allows Brunetti to voice concerns about the state of Italy, of its politics, corruption, position in regards to Europe and immigration and of course, the effects of tourists on the housing market and the Venice of his youth.

 

There is something like comfort to be found within the pages of a novel that features characters a reader has seen mature and develop over a number of years. It is the comfort of the familiar, of the feeling of almost returning to old friends, and it is this feel that is apparent in this book and makes it all the more enjoyable to read.

 

As ever, I impatiently wait for my next visit to Venice and Brunetti.

I’ve previously reviewed a few books from this series, and loved them. Carole P. Roman has a method of entertaining and engaging children that actually works. It’s easy to absorb some of the facts of the time period because she sticks you right in the middle of it. She doesn’t hide some of the stranger practices/ideas of the time. Instead she shoves them to the forefront to give parents or teachers and children something to discuss together. (Such as: not drinking water because everyone knew water was bad.)

Then there’s a section on why the Renaissance was so important, and a brief look at famous people from the era. Roman does a great job in putting the changes in art in simple, easy to understand terms. Honestly, I wasn’t aware of all that had changed during that time, so it educated me too. Beyond the people that everyone’s familiar with (Da Vinci, Donatello, etc), she mentions some lesser known figures. For example: Artemesisia Gentileschi. She was apparently one of the most famous female painters of the time.

The illustrations are solid, if not exciting. The information is enough to get your child interested without overwhelming them. The series, as a whole, is worth taking a look at, and would make a great addition to a classroom library. However, to be fair, there were a lot of errors in this book that should have been caught by a proof reader. It holds me back from giving it the rating I would have otherwise given it.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book free from the author in exchange for an honest review.

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