This is the 28th book in Donna Leon's Guido Brunetti series, set in Venice, and it is another winner in a series of winners. Among all of its other excellencies, it is so evocative of Venice that it's the next best thing to being there. As one reviewer observed, the city itself is a major "character" in these books.
To briefly summarize the plot, I am going to paraphrase from Google Books: Count Falier urges his Venetian son-in-law Brunetti to investigate, and intervene in, a close friend's plan to adopt a much younger man as his son. Count Falier's friend, a wealthy retired art dealer from Spain, Gonzalo Rodrâiguez de Tejada, is infatuated with the younger man, an Italian with a a title but no visible means of support for the lavish lifestyle he favors. Under Italy's arcane inheritance laws the adoption would make the Count heir to Gonzalo's entire fortune, a prospect Gonzalo's friends (and his family in Spain) find appalling.
For his part, Brunetti wonders why the old man, a close family friend, godfather to Brunetti's wife and "Tio Gonzalo" to Brunetti's own children, can't be allowed his pleasure in peace. And yet, he finds the situation disquieting. A few weeks later, Gonzalo unexpectedly, and literally, drops dead on the street. A hitherto unknown friend from years before arrives in Venice to arrange a memorial service.
Berta Dodson avers that Gonzalo saved her life when Pinochet took power in Chile, by getting her out of the country before she could be arrested. When Berta is found strangled in her hotel room, Brunetti discovers that she had heard of Gonzalo's plans and sent him an e-mail just before he died, declaring "We are the only ones who know you cannot do this," referring to the adoption. Now with a murder to solve, Brunetti reluctantly untangles the long-hidden mystery in Gonzalo's life that ultimately led to Berta's death -- a resolution that brings him far more pain than satisfaction.
Click HERE to read the review in Publishers Weekly.
Click HERE to read the review in Kirkus Reviews.
Click HERE to read the review from Criminal Element.com
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