A Noble Radiance

A Noble Radiance (1998) Donna Leon

The seventh Commissario Brunetti mystery opens with a body (more bones than body) discovered when a field is plowed.

We get to enjoy the usual characters, of course.

Signorina Elettra was at his door before he could answer his own question. ‘Please come in,’ he called. ‘You found it very quickly.’ Such had not always been the case with the Questura files, not until her blessed arrival. ‘How long have you been with us now, Signorina?’ he asked.
‘It will be three years this summer, Commissario. Why do you ask?’
It was on his lips to say, ‘So that I might better count my joys,’ but that sounded to him too much like one of her own rhetorical flights. Instead, he answered, ‘So I can order flowers to celebrate the day.’

And we get another peek into his relationship with his father in law.

He took the time to fold the paper neatly in two, and then in two again. ‘It’s become so bad, hasn’t it?’ he asked, holding the paper up between them.
‘Not if you like cannibalism, incest, and infanticide,’ Brunetti answered.
‘Did you read it today?’ When Brunetti shook his head, the Count explained. ‘There was a story this morning about a woman in Tehran who killed her husband, ground up his heart, and ate it in something called ab goosht’ Before Brunetti could register either surprise or disgust, the Count went on, ‘But then they opened a parenthesis and gave the recipe for ab goosht: tomatoes, onions, and chopped meat.’ He shook his head. ‘Who are they writing for? Who wants to know that sort of thing?’
Brunetti had long ago abandoned any faith he had ever had in the taste of the general public, and so he answered, ‘The readers of Il Gazzettino, I’d say.’
The Count looked across at him and nodded. ‘I suppose you’re right.’

And it’s good there is lightheartedness (of a sort), because the mystery is pretty awful when Brunetti finally discovers the resolution.

We also get a peek into Brunetti’s past, when we see some of his relationship with his brother (and of course, their regular visits to their mother).

Though it does touch on something I’ve felt for awhile.

‘The poor mother,’ Elettra said and then added, ‘I wonder if she’s religious.’
‘Why?’
‘It helps people when terrible things happen, when people die.’
‘Are you?’ Brunetti asked.
‘Per carità,’ she said, pushing the idea back towards him with raised hands. ‘The last time I was in church was for my confirmation. It would have upset my parents if I hadn’t done it, which was pretty much the same for all my friends. But since then I’ve had nothing to do with it.’
‘Then why did you say that it helps people?’
‘Because it’s true,’ she said simply. ‘The fact that I don’t believe in it doesn’t prevent it from helping other people. I’d be a fool to deny that.’

Rating: 7/10

Published by Grove Press

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