Writing that matches the rhythm of Venice

• Book: Wilful Behaviour
• Location: Venice
• Author: Donna Leon

This is the 11th in the 20+ mystery series set in Venice about the activities of Commissario Brunettie. He is a benign police officer with a well connected wife – his father in law is a count – who, despite her high powered academic career manages to be at home to cook wonderfully complex pasta lunches and share a glass of wine with her husband in between her lectures and his less than urgent investigations.
The story revolves around murder and corruption and the way the past interacts with the present. The shadow of Mussolini and the persecution of Italian Jews falls across the death of one of his wife’s student and Brunettie has to stitch together the sins of the past to discover the crimes of today.
There is little action – a remarkable number of people just ‘tell’ Brunettie things and a female computer expert in the police is able to come up with the missing pieces of the jigsaw without any attempt to engage with the ethics of semi-official hacking. However, the history explored is compelling and offers an insight into the foundations of contemporary Italian life.
Brunettie is no Maigret though and Donna Leon’s writing isn’t in the same league as Georges Simenon’s, but the real enjoyment comes from an appreciation of the two main characters: the city of Venice and Italian cooking
The slow paced writing seems to fit the rhythm of a city without roads where quick getaways are impossible.
It is perhaps the perfect holiday read giving a real taste of an extraordinary place and culture as it slips down as easily as stracciatella gelato on a warm afternoon.

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