A review by wc4
Trace Elements by Donna Leon

4.0

Donna Leon's Commissario Brunetti series is definitely not your typical police procedural. Brunetti is a quiet intellectual policeman who loves his city and his family. He is also practical enough to understand that policing in Venice also involves a lot of politics. He understand that everytime he has to deal with his superior, Patta. This time though, the story focuses on a dying woman in a hospice who asked to speak to the police. She proceeded to tell Brunetti and his colleague, Commissario Griffoni, about her husband being killed over "bad money". Unfortunately, she died before being able to explain her cryptic words. Feeling bound by his promise to look into the situation to the dying woman, Brunetti and Griffoni finds themself investigating what was a motorcycle accident of the woman's husband. If one is familiar with this series, one knows there's no big action or even big reveals like in a typical cop show. But, Brunetti is still one of my favourite literary characters. He knows and have to grudgingly accept that Italian justice system is far from perfect. He's doing his best in this situation, knowing that there are a lot of grey areas in life.