Doctored Evidence by Donna Leon: A review

I haven't visited Venice and the Brunetti family for a while, so let's hop a vaporetto and check out what the good Commissario Brunetti is up to.

 Well, it seems he's up to the same old thing - fighting the good fight (usually a losing fight) against the endemic corruption in Venetian and Italian society. This is the thirteenth in Donna Leon's popular series and it was published in 2004, so we are slowly getting closer to the current day.

 The case that is drawing Brunetti's attention this time around is the brutal murder of an old woman in her apartment. The murder had happened a few weeks before and had been quickly "solved" by the odious Lieutenant Scarpa. It was determined that the woman's Romanian carer had killed her and then she herself had been killed when struck by a train while fleeing police. Brunetti's fatuous superior, Patta, is, of course, delighted with the quick result.

 Then a neighbor who has been out of the country contacts the police to provide an alibi for the Romanian. She knows that she could not possibly have killed her employer. Scarpa is not happy and doesn't want to hear it, so he passes her off to Brunetti. Brunetti listens to her story and believes her. He decides to investigate but will have to do it on the sly since Patta considers the case closed.

 He soon learns that the woman was universally despised and there are any number of people who might have wanted to kill her. As he and Vianello and Signorina Elettra dig into the background and finances of the victim, searching for a possible motive, they find several bank accounts with a substantial sum of money. Money is always a good motive, but Brunetti suspects something more personal and keeps digging.

 While he digs, of course, he still goes home for lunch and dinner each day, prepared by his gourmet cook wife, Paola, and enjoys his meals with her and their son and daughter, now teenagers. The family's interactions around the dinner table are always some of the best moments of these books. His conversations with his wife keep him grounded and give him and the reader a lot to think about - in this case, it's the Seven Deadly Sins!

 Maybe the deadliest sin of all is pride and the fear of being shamed. It's the cause of much misery in the world.

 The play on words behind the title of the book becomes clear near the end and brings a smile. Clever plotting and a quick and undemanding read.

 My rating: 4 of 5 stars   

Comments

  1. Judy KruegerNovember 4, 2019 at 9:55 AM

    I have been slowly reading Black Lamb and Grey Falcon by Rebecca West. (It is very long and dense so will take me a while.) What struck me when I read your review is that for centuries Venice and Italy were predatory when it came to the Balkans, so this corruption that you say Brunetti fights against is no recent thing! At reading group yesterday one of the members (who is a fantastic cook) announced that she has told her family she is no longer cooking for them (husband and teenage daughter) because they never show up for dinner!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dorothy BordersNovember 4, 2019 at 11:29 AM

      Yes, as Leon describes it, the corruption is endemic and well-entrenched. If I had someone - especially a "fantastic cook" - to cook for me, I would definitely show up! Just as Guido Brunetti does. He has his priorities right.

      Delete
  2. Sarah @ All The Book Blog Names Are TakenNovember 6, 2019 at 10:01 PM

    I love clever surprises like that, how you think going in that the title means one thing but by the end you see it means another. Happy Reading!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dorothy BordersNovember 6, 2019 at 10:52 PM

      It's always fun when the writer is able to pull it off.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Poetry Sunday: Don't Hesitate by Mary Oliver

How about we share another Mary Oliver poem? After all, you can never have too many of those. In this one, the poet seems to acknowledge that it is often hard to simply live in and enjoy the moment, perhaps because we are afraid it can't last. She urges us to give in to that moment and fully experience the joy. Although "much can never be redeemed, still, life has some possibility left." Don't Hesitate by Mary Oliver If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy, don’t hesitate. Give in to it. There are plenty of lives and whole towns destroyed or about to be. We are not wise, and not very often kind. And much can never be redeemed. Still, life has some possibility left. Perhaps this is its way of fighting back, that sometimes something happens better than all the riches or power in the world. It could be anything, but very likely you notice it in the instant when love begins. Anyway, that’s often the case. Anyway, whatever it is, don’t be afraid of its plenty. Joy is no...
Read more

The Investigator by John Sandford: A review

Image
  I have read a few of John Sandford's books in the Prey series featuring Lucas Davenport. This book is a literal offspring of that series. It's the first in a series featuring Davenport's adopted daughter Letty Davenport. Letty is in her mid-20s and a graduate of Stanford. She works for a U.S. senator named Christopher Colles in a desk job but she's bored with her assignments. Then the senator offers her a chance to go into the field as a liaison between his office and the Department of Homeland Security.  In her first assignment in that position, she is sent to Texas along with DHS investigator John Kaiser to try to find out what is happening in regard to thefts of crude oil. The senator is not so concerned about the lost oil but wants to know where the money from its sale is going. Who is selling the oil and what they are doing with the profits? The suspicion is that a particularly nasty militia group led by a woman is involved. Letty and Kaiser head out to Texas, de...
Read more

Poetry Sunday: Hymn for the Hurting by Amanda Gorman

You probably remember poet Amanda Gorman from her appearance at the inauguration of President Biden. She read her poem "The Hill We Climb" on that occasion. After the senseless slaughter in Uvalde this week, she was inspired to write another poem which was published in The New York Times. It seemed perfect for the occasion and so I stole it in order to feature it here, just in case you didn't get a chance to read it in the Times . Hymn for the Hurting by Amanda Gorman Everything hurts, Our hearts shadowed and strange, Minds made muddied and mute. We carry tragedy, terrifying and true. And yet none of it is new; We knew it as home, As horror, As heritage. Even our children Cannot be children, Cannot be. Everything hurts. It’s a hard time to be alive, And even harder to stay that way. We’re burdened to live out these days, While at the same time, blessed to outlive them. This alarm is how we know We must be altered — That we must differ or die, That we must triumph or try. ...
Read more