Transient Desires

Transient Desires (2021) Donna Leon (Commissario Brunetti)

Two young American women were left on the dock outside the hospital–one with serious injuries.

What happened? Why were they abandoned? These and other questions lead Brunetti and his fellow officer Griffoni to find out what happened to the women–and more importantly, why.

This is another of the darker stories. Although there is no murder for Brunetti to investigate, don’t think that means there isn’t death and bad things happening.

There are also plenty of reminds of just how different policing and justice can be in Italy.

‘I’ve asked the men and the one other woman in the unit to make a note of gossip and hearsay and things that get said in the bars. It’s all to be written in pencil and given to me. I copy it and destroy the original pieces of paper, so everything is clearly in my handwriting, should it ever become a problem.’

‘There must be more crime in Rome,’ Brunetti ventured. ‘

Well,’ she said and gave a long, obviously thoughtful, pause, ‘the government and the Vatican are there.’

Going back to the very first mystery, there is an LGBT plot point, only this time instead she doesn’t soft-pedal it with women.

‘No, I wouldn’t mind. Yet,’ he began and saw (the young man) grow suddenly more alert. ‘Yet I’d worry that it might complicate his life or make it difficult.’ He gave himself time to follow this idea, then finished by saying, ‘But not as difficult and painful as it would be if he pretended to be heterosexual and wasted his life with that.’

As often happens with these books, the ending is uncertain, and it bothers me more than normal, though I can’t explain why without giving away the much of the mystery. Suffice to say I would have preferred an epilogue to this story. I’m also not sure why that ending happened, what with so many people around who should have been able to stop it.

Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press
Rating: 8/10

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