Blood from a Stone

Blood from a Stone (2005) Donna Leon

A young African man–a vú cumprá, or street vendor–is shot down on the street in what seems to be a professional hit.

Brunetti, Vianello and Signorina Elettra attempt to discover why the man was murdered in cold blood, but at every turn they run into road blocks–and not just the usual issues of Patta wanting to make crime in Venice look low and to make Venice look safe.

We also meet Don Alvise, an ex-priest who is actually respected by Brunetti.

(T)o the public administration, these people were problems, while to Don Alvise, they were people with problems.

I think that is an issue that is not limited to Italy, but is something that should be considered by everyone.

There was also a passage that I liked especially, since it was similar to an attitude my grandmother held.

‘It didn’t matter to my parents what work a person did, whether they ran a bank or a workshop: the important thing was that they worked and that they thought their work was important.’

It doesn’t matter what work someone does, if they are doing their work to the best of their ability, they deserve respect.

This is a complex, complicated, and thought-provoking mystery. It looks (unsurprisingly, from the name of the book) at conflict diamonds from Africa, but instead of simply stating that conflict diamonds are bad, we have complex character whose story we never quite know, and whom we are never sure if they are good or bad–because there isn’t truly a position of good or bad in so many problems, but instead one side and another side.

I’m explaining badly what she shows so eloquently, which is one of the things that makes this story well-worth reading.
Rating: 8.5/10

Published by Penguin

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