Blood from a Stone

Blood from a Stone (2005) Donna Leon

In Donna Leon’s fourteenth Commissario Guido Brunetti book, a vu cumpra is shot down on the street by hired assassins. Brunetti is (eventually) called to the scene, and attempts to unravel why a man selling fake handbags was shot in cold blood on the streets. The more Burnetti tries to discover who the man was and why he was killed, the murkier the case becomes, and soon government agencies are involved, which is never a good sign in Italy.

Although we see Vianello and Signora Elettra in this story, they don’t play as much of a role as they do in other books. Instead, the death leads to conflict at home for Brunetti, and his own worries over racism, both in himself and in his family.

As with most of the other books, even though Brunetti eventually leans what has happened, there is little true justice in the story. But unlike previous books, there is even greater confusion as to who is acting and what their motivations are.

Although my grandmother is on my case to read this series faster, I have a hard time reading one Brunetti book after another, primarily because his outlook on politics and even the police force is so bleak. Most of the time when he discovers who the murderer was, he is unable to act or bring about true justice. And in this book that is even more true than usual.

Don’t get me wrong, I am definitely going to continue this series, however, I don’t think I’ll devour these books one after the other, but will instead intersperse other books in between, so his bleak view of politics doesn’t get to me.
Rating: 7/10

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