by Donna Leon
Part of Commissario Brunetti, book 33
First published 2024
Commissario Guido Brunetti faces two puzzling cases in Venice. After teenage gangs clash violently in a city square around one AM, his colleague Claudia Griffoni walks one boy home when his father Dario Monforte fails to collect him from police headquarters. Meanwhile, Brunetti receives a request to background check Monforte for employment. Brunetti recalls that Monforte was publicly celebrated twenty years ago as a hero after a bombing destroyed an Italian military compound in Iraq. Yet neither the Carabinieri nor the Italian government ever awarded Monforte any medals. This contradiction troubles Brunetti. When gang members brutally attack police colleague Enzo Bocchese, Brunetti focuses his attention on both mysteries. Supported by Signorina Elettra's research skills and his wife Paola's insight, Brunetti and Griffoni uncover the corrupt truth behind Monforte's supposed heroism. Their investigation leads to a violent confrontation between the gangs and a chance for someone to find redemption.
Genres: mystery, crime, thriller, detective
Vibes: suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: investigation, police-procedural
Setting: Iraq, Italy, Venice
Period: 20th-century
274 pages · Hardcover · Atlantic Monthly Press
Content warnings: violence