Sometimes what you want from a book is to spend time with old friends. I love Guido Brunetti, I love his wife Paola and their children and like to catch up with them over their delicious family meals in their Venetian apartment. And I enjoy the plots of all the Commissario Brunetti books too. This is however, quite a dark tale (murders always are, of course), with its suggestion that corruption in Italy as elsewhere, is endemic and underwrites everyday life. Here is a death in canal. Is it simply a robbery gone wrong, or something more sinister? Brunetti has his work cut out to establish that this death, like the two that follow, is indeed the result of corruption at the highest level. There is no happy ending in a situation like this.... or indeed any real conclusion to such a story ( )

I liked it. This is the second book in the series. It was written in 1993 and is as relevant now (2024) as it was then. There's some sharp critical comments about America and Americans, which is interesting since the author is American. Aside from that it's a good introduction to the series.

Commissario Brunetti investigates a couple of suspicious deaths. Both victims were stationed at a base in Vicenza, which is close to Venice. At the same time there is a suspicious art theft from a power businessman. The theft may have been staged to recover insurance money. Brunetti's inquiry leads him to a secret industrial waste dump, probably condoned by the Italian authorities and the US Army. All in all, it's a twisty plot, which Brunetti sorts out in the end.
The audience is introduced Brunetti and some of the recurring characters in the series. There's also
to the Italian way of doing things, and life in Venice.

Recommended reading. ( )

Commissario Brunetti is called to investigate the death of a young American (Sgt. Michael Foster) whose body is found in a canal in Venice. At first it appears like a mugging that turned into murder, however, Brunetti thinks there’s more to it. The female doctor sent to identify the body, Captain Doctor Terry Peters, tries to hide the personal connection she has with the victim.

Brunetti travels to the American base in Vincenza to learn more about Sgt Foster and finds few people willing to give much information. He works with a Carabiniere officer, Maggiore Giancarlo Ambrogiani, and together they uncover deadly secrets that the Americans, Italians and the Mafia are partnering to hide.

When he starts getting too close to the truth, his bumbling, egotistical boss, Vice-Quetore Patta pulls him off the case and assigns him to investigate the theft of priceless paintings stolen from the very wealthy and influential Signor Viscardi. The theft appears to be an insurance scam but that’s not the answer his boss wants.

Brunetti finally decides to talk with his father-in-law, Count Orazio Falier to ask for help and information. He learns more than he expected to about the Count, his own agenda and is basically told to back off. That’s not Brunetti’s style but the powerful men involved take action to wrap up both cases and absolve the influential parties. The resolution is upsetting and saddening to Brunetti and he cannot do anything.
It affects him deeply as this is the first murder he has investigated where he knew the victim and also the environmental implications could impact his family and his country.

I liked learning more about Brunetti and his wife Paola and their teenagers, Raffaele and Chiara. This book was a bit faster paced than the first one. There is humorous sections interspersed in the story that I enjoyed. Brunetti is a good man with values and determination to find the truth. He loves his city and enjoys walking and eating and of course drinking like an Italian. Some call it a cozy mystery. ( )

Different authors take very different approaches to their characters. For instance, Ian Rankin and Michael Connelly have been scrupulous in having their protagonists John Rebus and Hieronymus “Harry” Bosch, age in real time. While this has added a deep patina of plausibility to their characters, it has also brought problems for the writers when it comes to handle their ageing process. Both writers have risen manfully to the challenge, but the clock is definitely ticking for both of them.

Some other writers, including titans of the genre such as the eventual Baronesses, P D James and Ruth Rendell, were not concerned about this at all. Their protagonists, Commander Adam Dalgleish and Chief Inspector Reg Wexford, scarcely aged at all throughout their respective literary histories, even though in both cases that span ran into several decades.

Donna Leon has adopted the latter approach with regard to Guido Brunetti, Vice Questore of the Venice police. The series featuring his investigations now extends to well over thirty books, and in the most recent one that I read, some twenty volumes in, Brunetti still seemed preserved in a vague middle age, while his children were entering the third decade of their teens (and no less annoying then than in this book, in which they made their first appearance.

This is the second in the sequence, and it is certainly a decent, novel, although I think that if I had encountered it when it first came out, I might not have bothered to return to the sequence. As it was, I read some of the later books first, from the point at which Ms Leon hit a run of good, midseason form, and went back to revisit the earlier stories.

I don’t have too much more to say about this book – it is a good, workmanlike story in which Brunetti overcomes obstruction and deceit (much of it emanating from his own boss, who is a particularly unpleasant, and excellently depicted character) to solve the death of an American soldier who is killed in Venice. As always with Donna Leon’s books, the city of Venice provides a marvellous, and affectionately described background. Somehow, though, the book never quite ignited my enthusiasm. ( )

This is the second book in the Commissario Brunetti series. Brunetti seems to have bitten off more than he can chew with his latest case. A young man is found floating near the edge of one of Venice's canals. On inspection, Brunetti determines that the young man is a soldier from the American base. As he investigates it quickly becomes apparent that there is a lot more to this crime than what appears to be a simple robbery gone wrong. But after numerous trips to the base and after being told by his unctuous boss to leave it alone, he feels more compelled than ever to try to solve the murder, but before he can do that another death occurs on the base. Guido finds out that some very high profile people from Sicily (wink, wink) are trying to keep him from investigating as well. I enjoyed the story and I enjoyed Brunetti, although he does appear to plod along on his own trajectory quite a bit during the course of the two books that I have read. But he is such a likeable and unflappable man, and dogged and single-minded in his approach that I can't help but cheer him on. Right up until the end it seems like the bad guys have won in this one, but one of the Venetian citizens puts an abrupt stop to that. Although the resolution is not clean and final, Brunetti decides to let it go as it appears that most of the bad guys involved have paid for their sins--to a point. This is an enjoyable series with great characters and with enough red herrings and blind alleys to keep the reader guessing. ( )