There he is again, Commissario Brunetti: forever in his prime, and always striving to uphold law, decency and morality in Venice. In the 31st case, things are now more personal than ever before.
If you’re looking for thrillers with bang, you’ve always come to the wrong place when you look to the author Donna Leon and her Commissario Guido Brunetti from Venice.
Leon (79) prefers to look into people’s souls to uncover abysses. In the 31st case of the Brunetti series, it is the inspector himself who does a soul striptease. “Charities” will be released on May 25th.
Brunetti has seldom appeared so brooding and wistful. (“He lingered on the campo, full of longing to see things again as they were the first time.”) He ponders a lot, Leon starts almost in slow motion, with long descriptions of the smallest gestures. So it takes a while before a possible crime comes into view at all. “Brunetti has become more thoughtful, less optimistic,” says the American with a Swiss passport to the German Press Agency. “He’s a little less happy with the world he’s in.”
The pandemic is the elephant in the room
And something else is different: Leon has always avoided referring to political or other contemporary events so that the crime series remains as timeless as possible. The pandemic made that impossible, she says. “It’s like an elephant in space. You can’t just walk around and expect people to follow you.” Masks appear in Brunetti’s Venice this time, abandoned shops, and new behaviors, which Leon comments sarcastically as usual. For example, when a woman speaks “without stopping with the silly habits that adults now do instead of shaking hands and kissing on the cheeks.”
What is “Charity” about? As a young boy, Brunetti lived with his brother and parents in the apartment of a kind landlord. She discreetly helped the poor Brunetti family with home-cooked meals and little Guido was happy when he didn’t have to go to bed hungry in the evening. Now the landlady’s daughter shows up. She asks the inspector to find out if her son-in-law is involved in shady business. The fact that Brunetti starts asking around without any real crime has to do with his deep gratitude to the former landlady.
Memories of Brunetti’s poor childhood run through the book, as does the contrast to the wealthy and influential family of his wife Paola (“From the first days with Paola, when he was still a street mutt panting at Paola’s heels, Brunetti had the elegance admired in the behavior of her family.»).
Age sharpens memories
Why are these memories coming up after so many years? “I don’t know,” says Leon, who likes to portray Brunetti as a real character with a life of her own, not as a product of her imagination. “I never write with a concept. When I start, I don’t even know how the story will end.” Perhaps the memories have to do with aging – an experience that Leon and Brunetti share. “As you get older, the memory sometimes sharpens, then scenes appear that you had forgotten, maybe that’s it.”
In any case, Brunetti again uncovers deep abysses: supposedly noble donors who enrich themselves, friends who betray friends, a person who out of selfishness and offended pride wants to deliver relatives to the knife. The elegant prose, the literary interjections – this time Greek classics – Donna Leon remains true to herself, even if she serves less culinary delights than usual.
The cult series continues, with a new work every spring. The 32nd case for 2023 is well advanced, says Leon. The author, who will be 80 in September, is already eyeing the 2024 case. She is in great shape. Others grow older in the book. Leon etches this with his usual sharp humor. A man craves “at an age when work stops and everything begins to deteriorate: family, teeth, friendships, eyes, knees – for the elixir of eternal youth, which was just a euphemism for sex with a much younger woman.”
Donna Leon, Charity, Inspector Brunetti’s thirty-first case, Hardcover linen, 352 pages, ISBN 978-3-257-07190-0, 25 euros
