So Shall You Reap

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Wondrous . . . A reader who is new to the series can start anywhere and pretty much be up to snuff with Commissario Brunetti, his family, co-workers, and the highs and lows of Venice, his lifelong home. The books are character studies, triptychs and psychological dissertations, all wrapped around the heart of a mystery.” — Bookreporter

What prompted this? A body was found. It was a pleasant Buddhist Sri Lankan, Inesh Kavinda, who was living in the garden shed of the Palazzo Zaffo Sri Leonie. Brunetti is approached by a woman who knew him and his family long ago, asking his “advice”; she is worried about her daughter because of the behaviour of the daughter’s husband. Brunetti allows old loyalty to draw him into an “unofficial” investigation, which slowly - very slowly - begins to uncover possible malfeasance. But Brunetti also decides to look into a charity that Enrico helped his father-in-law set up pro-bono, something that seems to have potential when his colleague Ispettore Lorenzo Vianello explains how little official oversight there appears to be on these entities. Of particular interest are the two other principals of the charity.SO SHALL YOU REAP is a novel full of secrets. The larger case in this story involves a murder investigation of a Sri Lankan man who had been living in Venice for many years. His body is found in the canal and there are no immediate suspects or motives for this apparently senseless murder. The man named Inesh had lived in the garden house of a wealthy older Venetian couple for eight years. All they knew about him is that he was nice, quiet, and a devout Buddhist. Inspection of his small residence confirmed this as Brunetti did not find much more than a small statue of Buddha that he worshipped at and a number of novels, mostly crime fiction. The modest building on the Fondamenta San Lorenzo which houses the Questura is likely to become as much a tourist attraction as the Quai des Orfèvres.” — Times Literary Supplement (London) In between times, the author goes off on tangents about long past terrorist acts in Italy, but most of the time spends paragraphs having the characters justify what they think and say.

El misterio sirve de excusa para echar un vistazo a la historia política reciente de Italia, desde una perspectiva más personal, mostrando el idealismo de la juventud y la naturaleza problemática inherente al mismo. Filosofía, política, historia o justicia, son temas recurrentes en sus obras, mostrando una gran perspicacia a la hora entrar en la psique humana, en las motivaciones, pensamientos o sentimientos de sus personajes. El misterio se presenta como un elemento con múltiples capas en el que la satisfacción final viene dada no solo porque se resuelve el caso, si no por la forma en que se ha resuelto. I had started listening to the audiobook on Thursday, then on Friday I had a free evening, so I decided to go on listening through my activities, enjoying a quiet night in. I listened for hours remaining engaged the entire time. I appreciate how Donna Leon skillfully builds the story slowly, adding new characters and laying out the state of play.Brunetti is approached for a favor by Elisabetta Foscarini, a woman he knows casually, but her mother was good to Brunetti's mother, so he feels obliged to at least look into the matter privately, and not as official police business. Foscarini's son-in-law, Enrico Fenzo, has alarmed his wife (her daughter) by confessing their family might be in danger because of something he's involved with. Since Fenzo is an accountant, Brunetti logically suspects the cause of danger is related to the finances of a client. Yet his clients seem benign: an optician, a restaurateur, a charity established by his father-in-law. However, when his friend's daughter's place of work is vandalized, Brunetti asks his own favors--that his colleagues Claudia Griffoni, Lorenzo Vianello, and Signorina Elettra Zorzi assist his private investigation, which soon enough turns official as they uncover the dark and Janus-faced nature of a venerable Italian institution. Like all of Leon's novels, it ultimately feels like a glorious invigorating holiday.' Daily Express