It is an unexpected pleasure to be given a book by one of my very favourite crime writers to review. It has to be said that as they go, this is rather a gloomy one, but, then, these are gloomy times, particularly in Venice.
It is an exceptionally hot July, and Commissario Guido Brunetti and his colleague Commissario Claudia Griffoni are strolling up the steps of the Ponte dei Lustraferi, watching fascinated as huge machines are carrying out a dredging operation. They are on their way to a hospital where a Dottoressa Donato has asked them to visit a patient who is dying of cancer. The doctor, who is clearly suffering from a strange medical condition herself, introduces them to her patient, Signora Toso, who is clearly close to death. Dr. Donato tells them that she has two teenage daughters and that her husband died two weeks after she moved into this public hospice from an expensive private clinic.
The doctor tells them Signor Toso travelled to work on a motorcycle. His bike came off the road at speed on a bend, killing him instantly. The caribinieri are convinced it was either a hit and run or a suicide. Griffoni interviews Signora Toso, who lapses into unconsciousness after telling Griffoni that her husband “took the money” and that it was “bad money”. After a few minutes, she regains consciousness briefly, and says “they killed him”.
Brunetti and Griffoni realise that they have to investigate the death of Toso, if possible, surreptitiously, as they will be impeded all the way by their boss, the Vice Questore. But as always, they have the invaluable help of the boss's secretary, Signora Elettra, who knows how to get into any WiFi system in the country.
They soon find out that Toso worked for a company that was responsible for testing the water in the Veneto region, and it was his job to report any trace elements, such as mercury, that had entered the water as industrial waste. This could lead to the illness and death of many of the population. In other words, they were dealing with corruption on a vast scale.
Brunetti has to fight his corner against all odds to prove his case, and the ending is somewhat equivocal. But as usual, an absorbing read, with apt references to his beloved classics, and a wonderful quote from Handel's Israel in Egypt at the beginning:
They loathed to drink of the river
He turned their waters into blood
