About Face

About Face (2009) Donna Leon

Brunetti and Paola are invited to a formal dinner at her parent’s house. During the dinner, Brunetti is seated across from an arresting woman–her facial features are frozen–rumor says through too much plastic surgery. Brunetti is unsure how to take this woman, but when she begins to speak of books, he is suddenly lost in conversation. After the dinner, Brunetti’s father-in-law asks his opinion of the woman’s husband–and older man who wants the Comte to invest in his business dealings in China.

At work, Brunetti is asked to work with another officer to look into the death of a businessman, and if that businessman was a Venetian. The murdered man was involved in shipping, and after being caught for tax crimes, was informing the police of dealings with organized crime.

I love Brunetti. I love his attitude and Paola and his love of food (though there seemed to be fewer meals here than in previous books). As with previous books, crime in Venice is complicated and the government is so Byzantine that it is hard to see the differences between the small large crimes (the bribes that allow Venetians to get anything done) from the small large crimes, such as were being uncovered when the businessman was murdered.

As always, despite accepting the small crimes that seem a way of life in Venice, Brunetti continues to rail against the larger crimes and injustices.
Rating: 8/10

Published by Atlantic Monthly Press

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