Doctored Evidence

If you've read at least one Donna Leon book you know you'll love this one too. The characters are wonderfully filled out and the politics of Italy are fascinating. Bet you can't read just one.

Early in Doctored Evidence, Commissario Guido Brunetti asks his wife, Paola, about a book she is reading . . . a text on religion that has been assigned to their daughter, Chiara. They muse about the seven deadly sins and speculate about whether or not anyone takes those sins seriously any more. During his case, Brunetti assumes that only certain sins can be motive enough for murder. Is he right? As the story opens, Signora Battestini has been bludgeoned to death by someone strong. She's an old lady who never leaves her apartment, but nothing has been taken. A missing housekeeper seems worth tracking down by Lieutenant Scarpa, one of Vice-Questore Patta's enforcers. In the process of arresting her, a terrible accident takes place. Scarpa and Patta are satisfied that the housekeeper is the killer, and the case goes dormant. Brunetti is away on vacation at the time. All might have stayed that way, but a neighbor comes to report that the housekeeper is probably innocent. Scarpa tries to get rid of the neighbor, but Brunetti ends up involved. From there, the real investigation begins. One of the most interesting parts of this story is when Dona Leon fills in some background by Signorina Elletra Zorzi and her seemingly magical ability to access records that shouldn't be available to her. You'll be astonished by the contrast between her personal scruples and her unscrupulous methods for gaining police information. Brunetti also gets caught with his hand in the cookie jar after doing some illegal searching. How will he handle the potential for exposure and discipline? The mystery in this book is pretty good. It will be some time before you'll be able to figure out who the murderer is and the motive. The ultimate explanation was credible and added to the pedestrian tone of dealing with the minor and major annoyances of life: How should you persuade the neighbors to make less noise at night? How can an exploited housekeeper with questionable papers protect herself from exploitation? How should a threat to respectability be met? How can endless official delays be overcome? Take a ride on the #1 Vaporetto if it's not crowded and enjoy the sights and sounds of Venice (I wouldn't dare suggest you try to enjoy the odors of Venice).

It's more than a "lucky 13" for Donna Leon. "Doctored Evidence" is acarefully-crafted, purposefully-written, and fully-fulfilling (typical!)Leon police procedural featuring my favorite Italian, Commissario Guido Brunetti. The erstwhile policeman has been on holiday to Ireland when the deathoccurs (A Romanian cleaning woman supposedly murdered her employer andmade off with a large sum of money, only to be apprehended at a bordercrossing; before police can take her into custody, she bolts and is killedby an on-coming train)and when he returns he has already dismissed thecase, which he'd read about in the papers, as merely a "cut and dried"episode in the life of the police in Venice. Of course, the death of the cleaning woman has suspicious and unusualcircumstances and shortly after Brunetti returns to work, a neighbor ofthe dead woman reports to the police that she has proof that the woman isinnocent. This, of course, really peaks Brunetti's interest and from thatpoint on, Donna Leon is, well, Donna Leon. Before the case is closed, of course, readers once again witness theinter-play between Brunetti and his associates, his family, and hisbeloved Venice. Leon is not shy about taking literary pot shots at anumber of socially significant issues facing not only the Venezians, theItalians, but the rest of the world. Step by step, Leon takes us to the conclusion, where, of course it's nosecret, Brunetti's intellect, talent, and good will once more triumph. "Doctored Evidence" continues the Leon reputation. What a fascinatingseries Leon has created. Tis a pity one has to wait a year for the nextepisode.

For all her "baker's dozen" Guido Brunetti books, Donna Leon continues to amaze this reader with her ability to sustain a police procedural so competently, so willingly, and so fantastically. It's Venice once again and the good Commissario finds himself lured into what appears to be a routine case: a "foreigner" has been apprehended for murder and theft and before the police can secure her, she bolts and is run over by an oncoming train. A simple case. Case closed. Ah, but here is where Brunetti comes in. Certain suspicious elements emerge and within a few minutes, he's completely immersed into the whole scene. Along the way, Donna Leon incorporates several socially significant issues (as she always does) that serve only to enhance the plot outline. Her critique on Venezian politics and life in general in that Pearl of the Adriatic stand on their own merit. Once again, Leon's brilliance at creating memorable characters make this just routine for her: but for her readers, each volume is a true adventure in itself.

It amazes me how much the city of Venice is a character in the Guido Brunetti novels. In this one, it's summer, and the merciless heat, lack of even a breath of air, and milling crowds of tourists are getting Guido Brunetti down. Vice Questore Patta is spending most of his summer in the swimming pool, but his minions are still screwing up. Brunetti returns from his vaction to find that an old woman has been bludgeoned to death, and Lt. Scarpa seems to have wrapped up the case in record time. But then another witness appears, whose story completely contradicts the police's conclusions, so the case, which had never quite been closed, more or less reopens. I say this because, as usual, Commissario Brunetti is working underground in his own department, trying to avoid and undo the stupidity of some of his colleagues. He is also working outside the law part of the time, as the indefatigable Signorina Elettra hacks into computers worldwide to provide him with background information on clients and victims. This gives Brunetti something else to feel uncomfortable about.At home, Brunetti's wife Paola is reading their daughter's religion textbook and holds a disquisition on the seven deadly sins. Do we believe in these anymore? And if we do, do the sins still have the same force and meaning they did in the past? She suggests that gluttony, for example, in the sense of excess consumption of all material things, is actually encouraged by society. Can it be a sin anymore? This discussion follows Brunetti through his investigation. The victim was a thoroughly miserable old woman whose leading sin seems to have been avarice, plain old-fashioned greed. Her son, who died of AIDS, represents other sins entirely. But greed is everywhere in the case, but at the end Brunetti is amazed to find that quite another sin had led to the murder.In the meantime, the investigation fights its way through the usual government corruption and the endless cynicism of the Venetians. Brunetti is on the move through most of the novel, so those delicious meals at home and fascinating encounters with the rest of the Brunetti family, Paola, Raffi, and Chiara, are rare. In contrast, Signorina Elettra is everywhere, and her role is the only aspect of the novel that I find a bit weak. She is too much of a deus ex machina, pulling rabbits out of her computer at every turn. Even so, the story is compelling, the dialog is great, and the atmosphere of Venice is magical.