by Donna Leon
Part of Commissario Brunetti, book 25
First published 2016
At a charity fundraiser in Venice, Commissario Guido Brunetti meets an aristocratic woman with an unusual request. Her granddaughter fell into a canal fifteen years earlier and nearly drowned. A passing alcoholic pulled the teenager from the water, but not before brain damage left her permanently childlike. The drunk witness claimed he saw someone push the girl, then forgot everything the next day. Now the grandmother wants Brunetti to investigate what may have been attempted murder. Brunetti knows any crime would be past the statute of limitations. The case might not even exist. But curiosity drives him forward, along with pity for the damaged woman and sympathy for her guilt-ridden grandmother, who happens to be his mother-in-law's closest friend. As Brunetti digs into the old incident, he navigates the complexities of modern Venetian life, from historic preservation battles to housing struggles to new African immigration. The investigation forces him to confront whether justice matters when it comes too late.
Genres: suspense, mystery, crime, detective
Vibes: emotional, intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: cold-case, family-drama, justice-delayed
Setting: Venice
Period: 15 Years Ago
256 pages · Hardcover · Atlantic Monthly Press