Review: SO SHALL YOU REAP, Donna Leon

• 
  This edition made available by my local library
  
• published by Hutchinson Heinemann UK 2023
• ISBN 978152153323
• 262 pages
• #32 in Commissario Brunetti series
  

Synopsis (Fantastic Fiction)

On a cold November evening, Guido Brunetti and Paola are up late when a call from his colleague Ispettore Vianello arrives, alerting the Commissario that a hand has been seen in one of Venice's canals. The body is soon found, and Brunetti is assigned to investigate the murder of an undocumented Sri Lankan immigrant. Because no official record of the man's presence in Venice exists, Brunetti is forced to use the city's far richer sources of information: gossip and the memories of people who knew the victim. Curiously, he had been living in a garden house on the grounds of a palazzo owned by a university professor, in which Brunetti discovers books revealing the victim's interest in Buddhism, the revolutionary Tamil Tigers, and the last crop of Italian political terrorists, active in the 1980s.

As the investigation expands, Brunetti, Vianello, Commissario Griffoni, and Signorina Elettra each assemble pieces of a puzzle-random information about real estate and land use, books, university friendships-that appear to have little in common. Until Brunetti stumbles over something that transports him back to his own student days, causing him to reflect on lost ideals and the errors of youth, on Italian politics and history, and on the accidents that sometimes lead to revelation.

My Take

Looking over The Fantastic Fiction list of the Brunetti series, I was surprised to see how many I have missed. The first in the series was published in 1992 and have continued at the rate of about one per year. That makes it a rather daunting list to read if you have never read any, as I am going to assert that you should read them in order. Not only do the books focus on contemporary Venetian social and political problems, there is also a very nice development of Brunetti and his family over time.

I've got to the stage where reading a Brunetti is rather like catching up with an old friend.

My rating: 4.7

I've also read

ABOUT FACE
THE GIRL OF HIS DREAMS
THROUGH A GLASS DARKLY
4.4, A QUESTION OF BELIEF
4.5, BEASTLY THINGS
4.4, QUIETLY IN THEIR SLEEP
3.9, THE JEWELS OF PARADISE
4.8, DRAWING CONCLUSIONS
4.5, DRAWING CONCLUSIONS, Donna Leon - abridged audio version
4.6, DEATH IN A STRANGE COUNTRY
4.7, BY ITS COVER
4.5, THE GOLDEN GOOSE
4.8, THE WATERS OF ETERNAL YOUTH
4.5, FALLING IN LOVE
4.8, EARTHLY REMAINS - #26

4.6, TRANSIENT DESIRES - #30     

Commissario Brunetti Mysteries (Fantastic Fiction)

1. Death at La Fenice (1992)
2. Death in a Strange Country (1993)
3. The Anonymous Venetian (1994)
4. Death and Judgment (1995)
5. Acqua Alta (1996)
6. Quietly in Their Sleep (1997)
7. A Noble Radiance (1998)
8. Fatal Remedies (1999)
9. Friends in High Places (2000)
10. A Sea of Troubles (2001)
11. Willful Behaviour (2002)
12. Uniform Justice (2003)
13. Doctored Evidence (2004)
14. Blood from a Stone (2005)
15. Through a Glass Darkly (2006)
16. Suffer the Little Children (2007)
17. The Girl of His Dreams (2008)
18. About Face (2009)
19. A Question of Belief (2010)
20. Drawing Conclusions (2011)
21. Beastly Things (2012)
22. The Golden Egg (2012)
23. By Its Cover (2014)
24. Falling in Love (2015)
25. The Waters of Eternal Youth (2016)
26. Earthly Remains (2017)
27. The Temptation of Forgiveness (2018)
28. Unto Us a Son Is Given (2019)
29. Trace Elements (2020)
30. Transient Desires (2021)
31. Give Unto Others (2021)
32. So Shall You Reap (2023)