It’s always comforting to delve into a new investigation by Venetian commissioner Guido Brunetti. Yes, there are criminals, unscrupulous people. Yes, there are innocent victims. But there is always an informal network of friends and family members who set in motion, perhaps not strictly legally, to help the commissioner bring back some justice, decency and goodness in this world.
In The gift of lyingthe commissioner agrees to help a former neighbor, Elisabetta, in particular because her mother had been particularly generous towards Brunetti’s family, then very poor.
Elisabetta fears that her son-in-law is involved in shady business, which would put her daughter in danger. The commissioner’s investigation leads him to a charity that appears to benefit its generous donors more than the Belize hospital it supposedly supports.
The gift of lying is not a major milestone in Donna Leon’s work, but we are pleased to find the characters we love (or love to hate), such as the devoted Signorina Elettra and the treacherous Lieutenant Scarpa.
The action takes place towards the end of the pandemic, which gives a different color to the main character of the novel, the city of Venice itself: tourists are still absent, many businesses have not survived. But Brunetti’s love for his city remains undiminished. As well as ours.
The gift of lying
Calmann-Lévy
358 pages