Give Unto Others (A Commissario Brunetti Mystery)

Product Information

In Venice the first wave of the pandemic is beginning to wane, with lockdowns and curfews at last being wound down. Her son-in-law has alarmed his wife by telling her they might be in danger because of something he's involved with. The reader is able to check back with the map to understand locations, and the routes Brunetti takes when walking anywhere in the course of his working day, which he often does.

Some of the highlights of this addition to the series are the insightful pictures provided of class, dementia, the way that charities can be seen and utilised in society and the parallels to be found of the experience of Covid and the police investigation.

I feel I've been on vacation to Venice with an insider's guide to its people every time I read a Brunetti novel. It’s a small matter and she’s certainly not reporting something that would normally involve the police, it’s just that she’s worried that her son-in-law may be experiencing some troubles and would Guido mind digging around a bit and hopefully set her mind at rest. Venice, in the pandemic’s tail end, and the Questura is not overrun with criminal cases, so Brunetti agrees to look into a private matter, off the books, for a former neighbour. One of my favorite parts of the series is reading about Brunetti and his family life, and here that was moved to the very back with just a couple of appearances from Paola, so it was a bit disappointing. One day, Elisabetta Foscarini, an old friend of Brunetti’s mother, shows up at the Questura seeking his assistance.

Of course, Brunetti and his team will wrap up everything but not without some big surprises and revelations that were never meant to see the light of day. Summary: It might be the 31st book in the series but it's another absolute cracker and I read long into the night to finish it. She discusses all sorts of background to the books and characters and also gives the reason that she won't allow the books to be translated into Italian (and it wasn't because she feared criticism by her neighbours in Venice).An English language summary of the German language Commissario Brunetti TV series (2000-2019) is available at Fictional Cities (Spoilers Obviously, although often the films differ from the books). the author wasted good characters (as shown in previous novels) as bumbling, not-sure-what-to-do-next police officers. But the deeper truth, when Brunetti uncovers it, admonishes him for forgetting to be a policeman when he most needed to.