Give unto Others
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4.2 • 214 Ratings
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
**An Instant New York Times Bestseller**
Brunetti is forced to confront the price of loyalty, to his past and in his work, as a seemingly innocent request leads him into troubling waters
What role can or should loyalty play in the life of a police inspector? It’s a question Commissario Guido Brunetti must face and ultimately answer in Give unto Others, Donna Leon’s splendid thirty-first installment of her acclaimed Venetian crime series.
Brunetti is approached for a favor by Elisabetta Foscarini, a woman he knows casually, but her mother was good to Brunetti’s mother, so he feels obliged to at least look into the matter privately, and not as official police business. Foscarini’s son-in-law, Enrico Fenzo, has alarmed his wife (her daughter) by confessing their family might be in danger because of something he’s involved with. Since Fenzo is an accountant, Brunetti logically suspects the cause of danger is related to the finances of a client. Yet his clients seem benign: an optician, a restaurateur, a charity established by his father-in-law. However, when his friend’s daughter’s place of work is vandalized, Brunetti asks his own favors—that his colleagues Claudia Griffoni, Lorenzo Vianello, and Signorina Elettra Zorzi assist his private investigation, which soon enough turns official as they uncover the dark and Janus-faced nature of a venerable Italian institution.
Exploring the wobbly line between the criminal and non-criminal, revealing previously untold elements of Brunetti’s past, Give unto Others shows that the price of reciprocity can be steep.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The specter of Covid-19 hangs over Venice in bestseller Leon's low-key 31st outing for Italian police detective Guido Brunetti (after 2021's Transient Desires). Well-to-do Elisabetta Foscarini, who was a neighbor of Brunetti when they were teenagers, is concerned about her daughter, Flora, a veterinarian. Flora's accountant husband, Enrico Fenzo, has been acting strangely, and Signora Foscarini fears "he's doing something bad." Rather than suggesting she hire a private investigator, Brunetti agrees to break the rules and put his career in jeopardy to help her. At first, Brunetti suspects one of Enrico's clients may be threatening him in some way. When Flora's veterinary clinic is vandalized, the case begins inching in a more sinister direction. The usual snippets of history, philosophical musings, and clear-eyed comments on Italian behavior and culture, plus talk of flagging tourism and closing businesses, help compensate for the pallid plot, in which the only bloodshed is a big dog tearing off the ear of a little dog at the vet clinic. Established fans will enjoy spending time with the charming Brunetti, but this isn't the place to start for newcomers.
Customer Reviews
Wonderful read
As usual, the author has given us a great story, with an ending much truer to life than fiction.
Now the waiting at least one year for the next installment.
Brunetti at the Fore
I have loved the entire series and admire Donna Leon. Hence, I was excited to read this book. But, I kept wondering if someone else wrote it! This is not like the rest of her books, in my opinion. However, I am anxious for the next one!
Give Unto Others
A new Leon novel is never just one more in a series. Each is it’s own gem. Give Unto Others is a star among stars, very different from some of the previous entries, a psychological twister where the character’s usual strengths become weaknesses in solving the puzzle.