Willful Behavior

Willful Behavior (2002) Donna Leon

The eleventh Commissario Brunetti book finds both Guido and Paola involved in the favors and requests that pervade Venice (and Italy).

‘But you have to let me do something for you.’
‘All right, you can,’ Brunetti said immediately.
‘Good. What? Anything.’
‘The next time we eat at the restaurant, ask Signora Maria to give Paola the recipe for the filling she makes for the mussels.’
There was a long pause, but finally Marco said, as much in sorrow as in earnest, ‘That’s blackmail. She’d never do it.’
‘It’s too bad Signora Maria didn’t (redacted), then.’
‘No, you wouldn’t get it, even then,’ Marco said, resigned. ‘She’d go to jail before she’d tell you about the mussels.’

We also learn more about Paola’s father, the Count Orazio.

‘Orazio doesn’t talk about what happened during the war.’
Surprised that Lele should speak so familiarly of a man Brunetti had never addressed, not in more than two decades, by his first name, he asked, ‘But how do you know about it? From your father?’
‘Yes, at least part of it. Orazio told me the rest.’
‘I didn’t know you knew him that well, Lele.’
‘We fought together with the Partisans for two years.’

I like how the Count remains complex and mysterious to Brunetti (and us) no matter how much time passes.

But, so much of Brunetti remains the same.

‘Do you have the number of Vianello’s telefonino?’
‘Yes,’ Rizzardi answered. ‘Why don’t you have your own?’
‘I do. But I keep leaving it at work or at home.’
‘Why doesn’t Vianello just give you his?’
‘He’s afraid I’ll lose it.’

‘Is that why you do it?’
‘No, not entirely. I think part of it is that I’m nosy by nature, and I always want to know how the story will end or how or why it got started. I want to know why people do things.’

I also always want to know why people do things, and like Brunetti, I am often disappointed.
Rating: 8/10

Published by Grove Press

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