Trace Elements

Donna Leon has been writing this series of books about Commissario Guido Brunetti and Venice for many years. This novel is the twenty-nineth. I always look forward to a new novel in this series because the stories are about people, their love, fears and foibles, about living in Venice as well as a crime or two to investigate. It is summer in Venice and the author vividly describes locals trying to cope in a hot, crowded, tourist city where there are few places to escape the heat and the many visitors exploring tourist destinations.

In Trace Elements Guido and his colleague, Claudia Griffoni, are asked to visit a woman who is in a hospice and has a story that she wants to tell the police. As they leave the hospice they are not sure whether the information that she gave them refers to a crime or not. On their second visit a few days later the patient dies. Guido and Claudia decide that the woman's story has to be investigated which leads to trying to discover how and why her husband died and what is really going on at a water plant that could be threatening the lives of people living and working in the surrounding area.

Added to this, when Vice Questore Patta becomes concerned with young pick pockets in Venice giving the city a bad name when a campaign in a magazine to promote the city is to be launched Guido is summoned the resolve the issue.

The issues in these novels are ethical issues and are never straight forward. They therefore provide Guido and the reader plenty to think about.