A review by nonna7
Trace Elements by Donna Leon

4.0

The book opens in a sweltering July in Venice. After a series of torrential rains, it hasn’t rained in weeks. The city is full of tourists and too many cruise ships. This heat was not normal until recently and more and more residents understand the concept of climate change.

When a dying woman asks to speak with a female police officer to come to her hospice room, Bruno assigns Claudia Griffoni although he comes along as her secondary. Claudia is tall, blonde and blue eyed and comes from Naples. The traditional disdain that northern Italians have had for southern Italians is discussed here as it is in the other books. Venetians assume that Claudia is one of their own until she speaks. Venice has a dialect that is distinctly different from the Italian taught in school. Claudia is able to switch from her Napolitano speech to “educated” Italian whenever she wishes although she is still trying to learn Venetian.

The dying woman is only 37. She has two daughters and her husband had been killed in a motorcycle accident a few weeks before. Now she has something urgent to tell the police. She can barely speak and they have to work to get the information they need. She talks about “bad money” and whether her husband’s accident was actually an accident or something else.

With the help of Signorina Elletra’s amazing computer skills they learn about the company he worked for - one that monitored local water supplies for local government. It doesn’t take long to see where this is going.

At the same time two young “Rom” girls (gypsies) were caught by the wife of the mayor trying to steal from her purse. The mayor wants them gone. Unfortunately it’s not that easy.

There is a lot of irony and sadness in this book. It doesn’t have a particularly happy ending and there’s no action. Donna Leon has lived in Italy for a long time and has the same relationship with that country as the native born: love and despair.