Trace Elements

In her 29th book featuring Guido Brunetti, Commissario of police in Venice, Donna Leon has once again provides a storyline in which for the most part it’s not actually certain that a crime has been committed. Brunetti and his colleague Claudio Griffoni are asked to attend the hospice bedside of a 38-year-old woman, Benedetta Toso, who is suffering from cancer. Not only is she certain to die soon but her husband, Vittorio, was just recently killed when his motorcycle went off the road and he drowned in a ditch. Benedetta has two daughters who are being cared for by her sister. It’s clear that the dying woman is severely distressed and trying to get a message across to them, but she’s barely able to talk and they can only really pick up a few sentences. It seems that Vittorio had recently required some ‘bad’ money and Benedetta believes that this was somehow the cause of his death. It’s not much to go on, but its all they have.<br /><br />Often in this series, apart from the case or cases being investigated the focus has been on the people associated with Brunetti – his family, friends and colleagues – and long standing readers (like me) have become familiar with a small group of characters who regularly pop up. In this instalment we become more acquainted with Griffoni who is a relatively new character in the life of these books but a person with whom Guido has become professionally close to in the past few years. To this point I'd found her to be something of an enigma, a private person with a keen brain and strong interpersonal skills but somebody who is really all business, with little known of her life outside of the police department. Here her personality is fleshed out somewhat and we find that she can be charming but she has a quick tempered prickly side too. She's able to put Brunetti on edge and few people are able to do that.<br /><br />As the story develops we learn that Vittorio worked for a company charged with maintaining the integrity of Venice’s water supply. He was a collector of samples that he delivered to the company’s lab for testing. There’s no clear evidence from the case file that his death was anything but an accident and no witnesses have come forward to add to the little knowledge the police have regarding the incident. But we’ve been here before with Brunetti and we know that his intuition, clever questioning and nose for deception will dig up the truth, if indeed there is anything more to be found. It’s summer and everyone is suffering from the extreme heat, Guido more than most. He cogitates on the detail and regularly retreats to one of the local bars for a coffee and a glass or two of mineral water, escaping both the heat and the crowds. <br /><br />In truth, I’m not altogether satisfied with the way this episode ultimately plays out. It’s not that I don’t give credence to the actions described but more that I wonder at the morality of the solution. I’ll say no more and allow readers to draw their own views on this point. But that’s always a side issue for me. The characters and the city of Venice bring me back to this series time and again. Donna Leon has created a world in which I can disappear and go with the flow, enjoying the atmosphere and even the taste and smell of the place as I imbibe the descriptions so deliciously drawn. I really love these books. Hurry back, Guido – I want more! <br /><br />My thanks to Grove Atlantic and NetGalley for providing an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

(<b>Please note that there is a little spoiler in here, but anyone with half a brain could figure it out.</b>)<br /><br />It pains me, but Trace Elements barely ekes out a three-star rating from me.<br /><br />Let me start with the positive. Leon is a professional novelist. Her writing is crisp and clear. Her body of work is rather vast, and her pacing is good. In my opinion, NO ONE evokes Venice better than Leon. Her descriptions are spot-on, her love for the city (<i>which I immensely enjoy during the off-season</i>) is obvious.<br /><br />Which brings me to the negative. In the past several novels Leon has come across as a malcontent who is PO'ed by the changes tourists are creating in her beloved home. I understand her position, living in one of America's premier resorts, and I've seen the effects that tourism, particularly large-boat and large-group tourism, is having on Venice, and it's tragic. <br /><br />But no place is exactly as it was twenty or thirty years ago, and most places haven't changed for the better during that time. By virtue of her education and the opportunity to live as an expatriate in such a magical place, Leon's life is <i>very </i>privileged. (I'm not deprecating the hard work and work ethic that produces these novels.) But "love it or leave it," Donna.<br /><br />I also understand her recurring theme of water and pollution/contamination. One of my children is an earth scientist (and economist and attorney) with a specialization in hydrology, and we share a love of this most precious natural resource. We advocate for it, as well as conserve it, and have watched the MOSES (mentioned in the novel, and one of the most ambitious and forward-thinking hydrological proposals ever) for years. <br /><br />This obsession with water and tourism is weakening her storylines. Leon's formerly masterful plotting is becoming transparent to the point that <input type="checkbox" class="spoiler__control" aria-label="The following text has been marked spoiler. Toggle checkbox to reveal or hide." onchange="this.labels[0].setAttribute('aria-hidden', !this.checked);" id="a17de145-b840-42c7-8f6b-d92e1250e899" /><label aria-hidden="true" class="spoiler" for="a17de145-b840-42c7-8f6b-d92e1250e899">when, very early in the story, she mentions a certain exclusive brand of watch worn by a person with a particular profession, I know exactly who the villain is and also know his motivation.</label><br /><br />As relates to another of my favorite authors, I'm tired of repetitive literary lectures. I've stopped reading him, and this is my last Leon book.<br /><br />I recommend Leon, sometimes highly, but only about the first twenty books in the series. At that point she lost her mojo for me.

3+<br />Trace Elements is the 29th book in the Commissario Guido Brunetti series. Brunetti investigates crimes in his beloved city of Venice. Sometimes these offenses are particular to this beautiful city, and sometimes they are universal, but they always contain the flavor of Venice. Where else can you take a boat to the airport? They are all well-written with sharp dialogue and references to Ventian landmarks. <br />The crime in Trace Elements is one that could be committed anywhere. Without giving spoilers, the greed, cover-up, and lack of concern for humanity were frightening but certainly not unheard of. While Brunetti continued to be irresistibly charming with his keen intelligence, love of books and food, and jabs at Italian politics, this was not the best in the series. <br /><br />I have read many in the Brunetti mystery series and highly recommend starting at the beginning. Especially if Italy has an appeal, this series will definitely be satisfying.

(3.5 stars) Donna Leon and her literary creation Commissario Guido Brunetti love Venice. But they don't look at that beautiful and historic city and the country of Italy itself with rose-colored glasses. No, in this, Leon's 29th in her detective series, you can see how problems, both internal to Venice and global ones also, are getting Leon, and hence Brunetti, a little down.<br /><br />Mass tourism, with its resulting crisis of overcrowding, pollution, and overall major inconvenience to the locals, rising crime, global warming's effect on "acqua alta" flooding and on weather in general, cronyism and corruption and bureaucracy in politics and business... You name it, Brunetti is suffering from its effects.<br /><br />But, as I said, Brunetti loves Venice, as does expat author Leon (born in New Jersey). Leon lived in Venice for perhaps 35 years beginning in the very early 1980s, only moving to Switzerland in 2015 (but even now visiting Venice perhaps one week per month). And her personal experiences and warm regard for the city shine through in her writing. We readers feel we are gaining some intimate knowledge of the real Venice even as we enjoy solving the mysteries with Brunetti.<br /><br />In this latest of the series, Brunetti and his colleague Claudia Griffoni are called to the bedside of a dying woman whose husband had recently died in a motorcycle accident. "They killed him. It was bad money. I told him so." That's all they can get out of her in her medically-drugged and cancer-weakened state. Not much to go on but, with the help of intrepid internet wiz Elettra Zorzi, the secretary to Brunetti's boss Vice Questore Patta, they will manage to uncover a whole nest of intrigue and corruption and find a murderer.<br /><br />This is not a favorite of mine in Leon's series. It spends a bit too much time as advocacy literature, with an agenda of pointing fingers at various environmental, social and political issues, without enough time on the actual crime and its solution. I have no problem with Brunetti becoming an "eco-detective" but I did need more murder investigation and detective work here to counterbalance the dark issues of global warming, corruption, pollution and tourism crisis.<br /><br />This is really a 3-star book for me that I'm giving 4 stars, somewhat paradoxically, for the very fact that Leon is using Brunetti and this mystery for a bit of a soapbox. We need more people to realize that these are serious issues and that the times are indeed dark. Brunetti has always been an introspective and thoughtful character and his worries here seem quite in keeping with his personality. And one can only hope that his thoughtfulness in this book will encourage more thought from readers.<br /><br />BTW, the title of this, TRACE ELEMENTS, is clever in its double meaning. First, the obvious one of chemical pollution of water sources, and, second, that mentioned by Brunetti of his having "no optimism about these trace elements of behaviour [i.e., in people], not with a daughter who, on the subject of the environment, was as grim as any of Dante's damned."<br /><br />Yep, I'm giving this 4 stars because of my being so in sync with Brunetti and Leon in their concerns.

I think Donna Leon is running out of fresh ideas - perhaps not surprisingly after 29 novels in this series. I found the continual complaints about tourism in Venice all too familiar (maybe she will write something different now about the summer of 2020 when no-one is visiting and the canals are running clean.) Over recent novels she has chosen themes that show the corruption or mismanagement in Italian politics and business and I felt this was also becoming predictable. (In this book the issue is one of the contamination of Venice's drinking water.)<br /><br />I still enjoyed meeting Guido again and his police colleagues but I found the novel for the most part rather dreary. The ending was good though, asking the perennial question of how justice can best be delivered in a flawed system.

A quandary for Brunetti!<br /><br />Two seemingly simple cases that had no connection. A couple of Roma girls have pick pocketed the wife of a powerful person who wants them out of Venice in case further enquiries open up something they don't want exposed. <br />A dying woman who has something to confess to the police.<br />As investigations unfold, both cases are a minefield of complexities for Commissari Guido Brunetti and Claudia Griffoni. As always they are ably assisted by the highly efficient Signorina Elettra, whose computer skills allow them into places that they normally couldn't access.<br />One case involves a question of the health of the planet. Both cases speak to what the powerful are able to get away with. Brunetti is faced with conflicting choices.<br />As Brunetti summarizes his reflections and the questions the situation demands we are reminded of his love of mythologies of the past,<br />"His thoughts turned to the Eumenides and the characters’ desperate search for an understanding of justice based on something other than vengeance."<br />"Brunetti was both accuser and accused. He had to decide which crime to punish, which to ignore, and choose the greater criminal, or the better odds."<br />As always a complex, yet rewarding read. Leon's underlying themes of the environment, politics, graft and corruption, bubble away, rising to the surface throughout. <br />It took me sometime to understand the title. I was as confused as Brunetti--until we both weren't!<br /><br />A Grove Atlantic ARC via NetGalley

...and that's a "barely okay." Signorina Leon seems to be losing steam, I'm afraid. After 28 Brunetti mysteries, this one feels plodding and pedestrian, in both senses of the word. The first 100 pages are a slog: it's hot in Venice. Everyone is sweating. Brunetti and colleague Griffoni watch a canal being dredged. A dying woman manages to gasp that her husband has been killed for "bad money." Brunetti's contemptible boss Patta is fussed because some pickpockets have been busy, and he has air conditioning in his office. 100 pages. It picks up a bit after that, but not much. We already know about the scourge of tourists in Venice, and the plot involves chicanery in the water supply services, which Bruno astutely figures out with the aid of the stretched-to-incredulity hacking genius of Elettra Zorzi. (Half the time basic links on the website of the major American university for which I work don't work, and IT shrugs and never calls back. Five minutes and the intrepid Zorzi has every scrap of info, with nary a profanity or dead link or network crash in sight.) <br /><br />Then there's the writing. Leon has simply padded out an insufficient plot with unedited narration of every motion made and every syllable spoken by the characters. On nearly any random page, you will find passages like this: "He led her towards the bridge but did not cross it, turned right along the canal to the second bridge, left, narrow street, popping up from nowhere on the right, another bridge into an underpass...began to swivel his body a half-step before he reached the corner where he had to turn, glanced across canals to the buildings on the other side, slowed to watch a cormorant dive under the water, and kept going." And this goes on for another 6 lines. Seriously? Have we no editors? And oh, by the way, it's still really hot and everyone is sweaty. The pickpocket plot vanishes after a nudge at some involvement of the evil Lieutenant Scarpa. But I'm not sure I care enough to read the next book to find out if it goes anywhere.<br /><br />I have read that Leon has finally moved out of Venice and lives mostly in Switzerland now. That's sad. Perhaps she's going to take her leave of good, thoughtful, serious Guido as well, if she can't do him any better justice than this.<br /><br /><a href="https://juliestielstra.com" rel="nofollow noopener">juliestielstra.com</a>

As per usual in her latest novels Donna Leon uses her books to comment on social, political or, in this case, environmental matters. Also, there's a subplot about pickpocket minors and the police inability to deal with them. Although a crime novel, the crime itself is secondary. In fact, it's not even clear if a murder has been committed, becoming almost incidental, but the story is no less entertaining because of it. At the end, Brunetti is presented with a moral dilemma, and although the ending it's not as satisfying as I would have like from the story point of view, it's a faithful reflection of today's world, as there are times when things don't wrap up as neatly as we wish.<br /><br />I've been reading this series for years and I keep doing it not for the crimes or the plots themselves, but for its characters. Each book offers a glimpse into their daily lives, sometimes with more interesting stories than others, but always a pleasure to come back.<br /><br />If you've been a fan of this series for years you'll like this one, but if it's your first Brunetti story and you're expecting a traditional murder mystery I suggest you start with the first books in the series, if only for getting to know these beloved characters from the beginning.<br /><br />Thanks to Edelweiss and Atlantic Month Press for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

2,5 Stars<br /><br />This book is like the way people move in the hot summer sun in Venice: leisurely. It starts with the case (that I only recognized as a 'case' because it is mentioned in the blurb) but then it takes Brunetti a third of the book - which equals one day - before he picks up his inquiries.<br /><br />In between there are young pickpocketing girls mentioned (I had no clue why that was in there in the first place) and detailled description of every step Brunetti takes, every move he makes, every snack he eats, every room he enters or plaza he crosses or book he opens. I appreciate a sense for detail, but the author should also keep in mind the pace of the story.<br /><br />And this pace was way to slow, which made the whole story a bit boring to me. Although the topic as such is worth a detective story, but it is dwarfed by too much insignificant 'trace elements'.

The best part of this book for me were the interactions between Guido Brunetti and his wife Paola. I loved how they enjoyed talking about books and taking walks together and the caring companionship that they shared. Additionally, they have a good rapport with their children and seem a strong family.<br /><br />When Brunetti arrives home distraught after experiencing the death of an elderly lady firsthand Paola is there to listen and he is "aware of the solace of her hand" as she gently touches him bring him comfort. Indeed, beforehand, he had recognized that paola "would understand how terrible the experience had been and how spiritual." <br /><br />Later, as they discuss books companionably, he had a sudden feeling of "wanting this conversation never to end, to stand and talk about books to the woman he loved and to have the good sense to see this this moment as one of the greatest gifts life has given him."<br /><br />About taking a walk with Brunetti, Paola says, "I can think of no more joyful thing to do." On their walk, they secretly enjoy some ice-cream just before dinner and vow not to tell their children. Then, after dinner when Paola serves gelato from a kilo container (about 2 litres), she and Brunetti sit horrified as their children devour all the rest after they have had a small taste! They seem like a typical family.