The Temptation of Forgiveness

In Leon’s thought-provoking 27th Commissario Guido Brunetti novel (after 2017’s Earthly Remains), Elisa Crosera, a university colleague of Brunetti’s wife, fears that her teenage son has fallen prey to unidentified drug dealers and approaches him for help. Armed only with an informant’s tip, the Venetian policeman checks into the activities of a longtime dealer recently released from prison. When Crosera’s accountant husband, Tullio Gasparini, is found on a bridge, suffering from serious head injuries, Brunetti wonders whether Gasparini was pursuing his own investigation and posed a threat to his son’s drug connections. As Brunetti looks into Gasparini’s movements and background, he uncovers strange behavior by Gasparini’s aged aunt that may point to more sinister doings. Amid the procedural aspects of the case, vivid descriptions of Venice, and interludes with Brunetti’s pesky superior, Leon offers intelligent reflections on the fallout that can harm both innocent and guilty in the quest for justice. Agent: Susanna Bauknecht, Diogenes Verlag (Switzerland). (Mar.)