Blood From a Stone – Donna Leon
On a cold December night in Venice, as tourists and locals gather in a busy square, a man is shot dead. He is one of the African street vendors who sell fake designer handbags to passersby, an illegal immigrant whose name nobody seems to know. To many in the city, he is almost invisible, and the authorities show little interest in his death.
Blood From a Stone, the fourteenth novel in Donna Leon’s bestselling Commissario Guido Brunetti series, follows Brunetti as he investigates the killing. As he tries to learn who the victim was and why he was killed, Brunetti encounters a wall of silence from the vendors, who fear the police, and indifference from much of Venetian society.
His investigation uncovers a much larger and more dangerous story, involving smuggling and the trade in valuable stones, and connections that reach into powerful circles. When Brunetti’s superiors, including the ambitious Vice-Questore Patta, pressure him to drop the case, he must decide how far he is willing to go to find justice for a man few seem to care about.
As always, Leon combines a compelling mystery with a richly detailed portrait of Venice, its food, culture and politics, and with insight into issues such as immigration, prejudice, corruption and the treatment of people on the margins of society. Brunetti’s warm family life with his wife, Paola, and their children offers a counterpoint to the darker aspects of his work.
Thoughtful and atmospheric, Blood From a Stone is a satisfying read for fans of Commissario Brunetti and literary crime fiction. It can be read on its own. It contains violence.
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