Murder, Mafia, and a mysterious woman

April 13, 2009|Clea Simon

Perhaps it is not surprising that in a murder mystery nothing is as it first appears. But that truism has deeper meanings for both the police and the civilians involved in "About Face," Donna Leon's 18th fine and atmospheric Commissario Guido Brunetti mystery.

Focused, as always, more on life in contemporary Venice than on action or even serious crime solving, "About Face," is still somewhat atypical for this series. Leon excels at depicting Brunetti's warm and complex domestic life, and in classic Brunetti style this outing starts with a dinner party. Brunetti's wife, Paola, an academic, brings up Henry James, and Brunetti finds himself captivated by an odd-looking young woman who has apparently had way too much plastic surgery - not because of her looks, but because she can discuss Cicero. Soon after, this book takes on a heavier crime component than has been usual.

A member of the carabinieri - Italy's military police - comes to Brunetti's office, seeking help with a sensitive case. Their jurisdictions are separate, but Brunetti feels a kinship with the plainspoken Maggiori Guarini. So when Guarini tells Brunetti of a murder linked to illegal dumping, and, beyond that, to the northern expansion of the Camorra, the real-life Neapolitan Mafia, Brunetti agrees to look into a possible Venetian angle, and to do it discreetly. After Guarini is found dead in a barren industrial storage area, Brunetti realizes that he may hold the only clues.

In a parallel plotline, Brunetti's father-in-law, the rich and influential Conte Falier, asks for a rare favor: background on the strange, Cicero-quoting beauty's husband. Both investigations point toward shady deals, made in the gray areas of international law; far-reaching trade arrangements that are polluting Venice and its environs physically and spiritually.

As recently as 2007's "Suffer the Little Children," Leon had almost abandoned the charming domestic side of Brunetti's life, leaving behind the wonderful meals and repartee to focus on the social ills that have long made up the meat of her deceptively hard-edged stories.

She remedied that imbalance with last year's "The Girl of His Dreams," softening the tragic tale of a young girl's death and of the hardships faced by the new Europe's illegal immigrants, with parallel stories of Brunetti's loved and idiosyncratic children, Chiara and Raffi.