Dressed for Death

Dressed for Death (1994) Donna Leon

A body is discovered in Marghera–the industrial sector near Venice. It’s discovered because one of the worker’s in the slaughterhouse saw a pair of red high heeled shoes that he assumes were abandoned by one of the prostitutes who work in the area, and hoped they were clean and could be sold for some extra money. To his surprise, they were attached to a body.

But something else, even more important, happens in this story.

Leaving Patta’s office, Brunetti noticed that, while he was inside, furniture had suddenly appeared in the small anteroom that stood directly outside Patta’s office. A large wooden desk stood on one side, and a small table had been placed below the window.

That’s right!

‘And you are?’ he asked with a smile.

‘Elettra Zorzi, sir. I started work last week as secretary to Vice-Questore Patta.’
…
‘I’m very pleased to meet you, Signorina Zorzi,’ Brunetti said.
…
‘I believe I’m to work for you, as well, Commissario,’ she said smiling.

And now we have all the players I love.

Mind you, that’s not all there is to this story. Brunetti takes a look at prostitution outside the industrial areas, as well as prostitution in Mestre. (This won’t be the first time he delves into the dark world of prostitution in and around Venice.) It’s unflinching, and although I’m not certain she gets everything quite right, if the subculture in Italy is similar to the subculture in the US, but it is viewed kindly.

And of course, there are the bits that have show the age of the story (min-90s) but are hilarious never-the-less.

‘It takes me forever to change the message. So many buttons to push. The first time I did it, I recorded myself swearing at the machine. No one left a message for a week, until I thought the thing wasn’t working and called myself from a phone booth. Shocking, the language the machine used.

I found this particularly amusing, because my father STILL has problems with my parent’s answering machine.

I also found this bit, written in 1994, to be particularly interesting.

‘I think the political wave of the future is groups like the Lega, groups which aim at fragmenting larger groups, breaking larger units into smaller. Just kook at Eastern Europe and Yugoslavia. Look at our own political leghe, wanting to chop Italy back up into a lot of smaller, independent units.

‘Could you be making too much of this, Damiano?’

‘Of course, I could be. The Lega della Moralita could just as easily be a bunch of harmless old ladies who like to meet together and talk about how good the old times were.

It just struck me as very interesting.

One dark note, however, at the very end of the story, that struck me as both particularly true, and particularly sad. (rot13)

‘V’z nsenvq gung’f abg tbvat gb or s nal uryc. Abg gb zr naq abg gb Yrbaneqb.’ Jura Oeharggv ortna gb bowrpg, fur phg uvz bss naq fnvq, ‘Pbzzffnevb, gur cncref pna cevag nf zhpu nf gurl jnag nobhg jung ernyyl unccrarq, ohg nyy crbcyr ner rire tbvat gb erzrzore nobhg Yrbaneqb vf gur fgbel gung nccrnerq jura uvf obql jnf svefg qvfpbirerq, gung ur jnf sbhaq jrnevat n qerff naq oryvrirq gb or n genafirfgvgr. Naq n juber.

‘Ohg vg jvyy orpbzr pyrne gung jnf abg gehr, Fvtaben.’

‘Bapr zhq unf orra guebja, Pbzzvffnevb, vg pnaabg rire or shyyl jnfurq bss. Crbcyr yvxr gb guvax onqyl bs bgure crbcyr; gur jbefr vg vf, gur unccvre vg znxrf gurz. Lrnef sebz abj, jura crbcyr urne Yrbaneq’f anzr, gurl jvyy erzrzore gur qerff naq gurl jvyy guvax jungrire qvegl gubhtugf gurl jnag gb guvax.’

That is very sad, and very true.

As always, this is a very good story, and highly recommended.
Rating: 8/0

Published by Penguin Books

 
 

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