{"id":26537,"date":"2026-04-12T09:06:48","date_gmt":"2026-04-12T13:06:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=26537"},"modified":"2026-04-12T09:06:48","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T13:06:48","slug":"a-refiners-fire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/26537","title":{"rendered":"A Refiner\u2019s Fire"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Refiner\u2019s Fire<\/em> (2024) Donna Leon<\/a> (Commissario Brunetti #33)<\/p>\n

\"AApparently I borrowed this book at the start of 2025, started reading, got distracted, and the the book was returned without me finishing it. <\/p>\n

And then I completely forgot about it. So when I borrowed the book this time and started reading, I remembered what I was reading. But checked and hadn’t written a review, so kept reading. And kept thinking “Is this where I stopped reading?” and then come across another passage I recognized.<\/p>\n

\u2018And, so far as I can see, you have no more complicated reason than simple human curiosity.\u2019 <\/p>\n

That silenced them. But only for a moment. Brunetti smiled across at her and, in an entirely normal voice, asked, \u2018Is there a better reason?\u2019 <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But eventually I moved to where I’d dropped the story before, and finished the book.<\/p>\n

Then I spent an inordinate amount of time trying to figure out how to get the annotations from a library book off my Kobo.<\/p>\n

Anything worth studying?\u2019<\/p>\n

Her question surprised him, and he gave it some consideration before he said, \u2018Only maths.\u2019<\/p>\n

That stopped Griffoni in her tracks. \u2018Maths?\u2019 When Orlando nodded, she asked, \u2018Why?\u2019<\/p>\n

With no hesitation, he said, \u2018Because it\u2019s so clean.\u2019<\/p>\n

‘You ask it a question and it gives you the answer. It shows you a rule, and that won\u2019t change, no matter how much someone prays about it or threatens you if you don\u2019t change the answer to the one he wants.’<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This story opens with Griffoni dealing with a fight between baby gangs, and walking one boy home at 5 AM after all the other teens had been picked up by their parents.<\/p>\n

Then we switch back to Brunetti for most of the rest of the story.<\/p>\n

The book has several themes: the ‘baby gangs’ of teen boys, bored and connected through social media. The Nasiriyah suicide bombing of 20 years earlier (when Raffi and Chiari were still the teens they continue to be in this book). The looting of artifacts from Iraq during the war. And Bocchese’s small bronze statues and the teen who kept threatening him.<\/p>\n

Bocchese stepped back from the door to let Brunetti into the apartment. \u2018My God, I\u2019m sorry, Guido,\u2019 he said and set the gun on a small table near the door. \u2018It\u2019s not loaded. They never gave me any bullets.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This story has the feel of a final book in a series: Donna Leon is, after all, in her 80s. (And there hasn’t been a Brunetti book published since this one.) For the first time we see Patta changing, becoming more than he has ever been.<\/p>\n

No sooner had he thought it than Patta decided. \u2018Tell Signorina Elettra if she has any trouble getting\u00a0. . . access to the Carabinieri files, to try the password ATTAP with them. All capitals.\u2019 Having said that, he added, \u2018And be sure you spell it that way,\u2019 and gave a small, very clever smile.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Honestly, this was a bit jarring 33 books into the series, and made the theme of redemption feel especially heavy handed. The bits about looting in Iraq also felt heavy-handed, but perhaps that’s because she was preaching to the choir. There were threads picked up and dropped without consequence, such as the threats from Beni Borsetta.<\/p>\n

I finished the story, but this doesn’t feel like one I’d want to revisit, and I’m not sure how I feel if this is to be the final book in the series.<\/p>\n

Characters<\/strong>: Commissario Guido Brunetti, Paola Brunetti, Raffaele (Raffi) Brunetti, Chiara Brunetti, Conte Orazio Falier, Contessa Donatella Falier, Vice-Questore Giuseppe Patta, Signorina Elettra Zorzi, Commissario Claudia Griffoni, Officer Alvise, Bocchese, Rodella, Genesin, Dottor Ettore Rizzard, Maria Grazia Riccio, Major Massimo Fede, Valeriano Anzoletti, Daniele Campi, Lino Riccio, Dario Monforte, Orlando Monforte, Beniamino Cresti\/ Beni Borsetta, Gianpaolo Porpora, Marylou Wilson<\/p>\n

Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press<\/p>\n

Rating: 7\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Refiner\u2019s Fire (2024) Donna Leon (Commissario Brunetti #33) Apparently I borrowed this book at the start of 2025, started reading, got distracted, and the the book was returned without me finishing it. And then I completely forgot about it. So when I borrowed the book this time and started reading, I remembered what I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[193,292,8,42],"tags":[97,96],"class_list":["post-26537","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-7-10","category-ebook","category-mystery","category-police","tag-commissario-guido-brunetti","tag-donna-leon"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-6U1","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":735,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/735","url_meta":{"origin":26537,"position":0},"title":"Friends in High Places","author":"Michelle","date":"October 29, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Friends in High Places (2000) Donna Leon Apparently, Donna Leon's Commissario Brunetti books are not being published in the US following European copyright dates. Friends in High Places has a European copyright of 2000, but was published in the US only recently. Not that this particularly matters in the grand\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Mystery"","block_context":{"text":"Mystery","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/mystery"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Friends-in-High-Places.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5440,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/5440","url_meta":{"origin":26537,"position":1},"title":"Dressed for Death","author":"Michelle","date":"October 3, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Dressed for Death (1994) Donna Leon And now, in the third book of the Commisario Brunetti series, we finally meet Elettra, who will become just as (if not more) central to the series as Vianello. \u201cI\u2019m very pleased to meet you, Signorina Zorzi,\u201d Brunetti said. The name rang familiarly in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Dressed-for-Death-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":22582,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/22582","url_meta":{"origin":26537,"position":2},"title":"So Shall You Reap","author":"Michelle","date":"December 4, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"So Shall You Reap (2023) Donna Leon (Commissario Brunetti) This is the 32nd book in the Commissario Brunetti series. Like so many other characters in mysteries, Brunetti and his family have stopped aging, Chiara forever trapped as a young teen. Like the previous couple books, the mysteries are ok. The\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "7\/10"","block_context":{"text":"7\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/7-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"So Shall You Reap","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/So-Shall-You-Reap.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/So-Shall-You-Reap.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/So-Shall-You-Reap.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/So-Shall-You-Reap.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":588,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/588","url_meta":{"origin":26537,"position":3},"title":"Quietly in Their Sleep","author":"Michelle","date":"June 2, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Quietly in Their Sleep (1997) Donna Leon This was a rather strange story in comparison to the previous books. Brunetti is given only a vague idea that there might be something untoward happening in a nursing home--a home that is run by the same man as the home in which\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Mystery"","block_context":{"text":"Mystery","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/mystery"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Quietly-in-Their-Sleep.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":683,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/683","url_meta":{"origin":26537,"position":4},"title":"Uniform Justice","author":"Michelle","date":"October 8, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Uniform Justice (2003) Donna Leon I really like Commissario Guido Brunetti. I like his sense of justice and fairness. I like his intelligence and wit. And I like his wife. In fact I think I wish I was Paola. A boy is found dead in the local military school, and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Mystery"","block_context":{"text":"Mystery","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/mystery"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Uniform-Justice-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1928,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/1928","url_meta":{"origin":26537,"position":5},"title":"Willful Beahvior","author":"Michelle","date":"September 5, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Willful Behavior (2002) Donna Leon I really hate the way this series is released\/re-released in the US. This book was originally published in 2002, but I wasn't able to get my hands on it until this year. Which is frustrating, since it obliquely referred to events in the previous book,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Willful-Behavior.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26537","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26537"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26537\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}