So Shall You Reap

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Donna Leon guides us through Venice like James Ellroy through Los Angeles or Manuel Vázquez Montalbán through Barcelona: with an eye used to detect what lies behind the façade.” — Le Figaro (Paris) When reading a Brunetti novel, you expect to get more than just the story with which to immerse yourself. There are the sights, sounds and foods of Venice and the surrounding area. There is also Brunetti’s family: his wife Paola, an academic, and their two college-age children. One night at dinner, Chiara asks for her father’s help with an assignment --- they are to choose their favorite Greek play and scene. For Brunetti, it’s “Oresteia” and Clytemnestra’s first speech. When she asks why, he says, “Because she is so much stronger than I am.” Wondrous . . . A reader who is new to the series can start anywhere and pretty much be up to snuff with Commissario Brunetti, his family, co-workers, and the highs and lows of Venice, his lifelong home. The books are character studies, triptychs and psychological dissertations, all wrapped around the heart of a mystery.” — Bookreporter In Donna Leon’s sure hands, the crime novel becomes an instrument for exploring social justice and universal truths about human behavior while beautifully telling a compelling story.” —Barbara Peters, The Poisoned Pen Bookstore, Scottsdale, Arizona Brunetti’s Cookbook, recipes by Roberta Pianaro, culinary stories by Donna Leon (Published previously in the United Kingdom as A Taste of Venice: At Table with Brunetti, William Heinemann, London, April 2010; Atlantic Monthly Press, New York, hardcover, May 2010)

Why, oh, why can't I meet a man like you? You know, we're about the same age. You are well read in philosophy and the classics, are devoted to your beautiful wife, Paola--the daughter of a count and a professor of English literature with an emphasis on Henry James--and your teenaged children, Raffi and Chiara. You're a good man without dangerous vices, have a kind heart, adore your beloved and historic city (despite the annoying tourists, especially those Americans with their white tennis shoes), and have the citizens and safety of visitors in mind as you do your job. Though you are skeptical of the Church (as are many these days, Italian and non-Italian alike), you treat everyone with respect and kindness, including your co-workers (Signorina Elettra, Claudia Griffoni--though she is from Naples--Lorenzo Vianello, and even your pompous boss Patta and that worm of a lieutenant, Scarpa). I hope to visit Venice someday and wonder, are there other men like you in this world? 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.As a favour to his wealthy father-in-law, the Count Falier, Commissario Guido Brunetti agrees to investigate the seemingly innocent wish of the Count's best friend, the elderly and childless Gonzalo, to adopt a younger man as his son. Under Italian inheritance laws, this man would become the sole heir to Gonzalo's substantial fortune, something which Gonzalo's friends, including the Count, find appalling. For his part, Brunetti wonders why they're so intent on meddling in the old man's business. It's potentially an interesting story based on not a legal crime, but a moral and ethical one. And one of the victims offers up a hard-hitting portrait of a family dealing with the consequences of dementia that is as emotionally powerful as Leon has ever been. Drawing Conclusions (Forthcoming in 2011 from William Heinemann, London, and Atlantic Monthly Press, New York) Donna Leon provides another delectable slice of the thoughtful policeman's life at work and at home... So Shall You Reap is as witty and wise as anything Leon has written. To read her is to restore the soul.' Mark Sanderson, The Times

I’m in awe of their parenting skills, and I would happily sit down to any meal at their dining table. The annual release of the latest Donna Leon mystery featuring Commissario Guido Brunetti is always a treat I relish. There is no better literary tour guide to Venice and the surrounding landscape than Leon and each entry in this series provides complex, memorable characters and storylines that touch the moral center of the human spirit.A panoramic view of the Campo Santi Giovanni e Paolo in Venice with the equestrian statue of mercenary Bartolomeo Colleoni on the extreme right. The history of the mercenary, the statue and the location are featured during "Give Unto Others." Image sourced from Wikipedia. In this story, he starts out where he would rather be culling his crowded bookshelves than heading off to the mainland to retrieve one of their policemen, who’s somehow been caught up in a protest march that has turned violent. Things soon take a more serious turn when a hand is seen in a canal and the body of an undocumented worker is soon found. But otherwise this is both more of the same (the Falieris, as usual, know everyone) with Brunetti's little team of Elettra, Vianello and Claudia rallying round to do an off-the-books investigation, and not enough of the ingredients we have come to love. Sadly, Paola hardly appears and says very little and we don't even see Brunetti's family, usually a source of much warmth and light-heartedness. I read the first book in her series, “Death at La Fenice” and actually saw the same book re-created in an Italian series movie version. It was rather interesting to watch. (And yes, the book was better than the movie.) (Side note: My review of Death at La Fenice is here on Goodreads.)