by Donna Leon
Part of Commissario Brunetti, book 22
First published 2013
Autumn arrives in Venice as Vice Questore Patta hands Commissario Guido Brunetti a trivial case involving the mayor's future daughter-in-law and a shop violation. Brunetti sees through the political maneuvering but must comply. Then his wife Paola brings him a different matter. The mentally disabled man from their dry cleaner has died from a sleeping pill overdose. Paola cannot bear that this gentle soul lived and died unnoticed. Brunetti begins investigating and discovers something impossible. The dead man has no birth certificate, no passport, no identification of any kind. According to official records, he never existed. His mother refuses to talk to police and claims his papers were stolen in a burglary. As Brunetti digs deeper, he uncovers connections to the Lembos, a prominent aristocratic family. The question haunts him: why would anyone want to kill this harmless, simple man? The case forces Brunetti to confront how society treats its most vulnerable members.
Genres: mystery, crime, contemporary, detective
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: amateur-sleuth, family-secrets
Setting: Venice
Period: Autumn
276 pages · Hardcover · Atlantic Monthly Press
Content warnings: mental-illness