This week at the Gilpin Library
by Larry Grieco, Librarian
Donna Leon lives in Italy, writes in English, and has created “one of the most exquisite and subtle detective series ever.” (Washington Post) Her detective is Commissario Guido Brunetti, a police inspector in Venice. The twenty-fifth offering in the series is called The Waters of Eternal Youth. Brunetti is called upon to investigate a most unusual case, one that may not even be a case at all. Some fifteen years ago, a teenage girl fell into one of the city’s canals. She couldn’t swim, but was rescued by a man, an alcoholic, who heard her splashes and pulled her out. The girl suffered brain damage, leaving her “unable to learn or mature.” Now, her rescuer, being a bit intoxicated, claimed he saw her thrown into the canal, but the next day he didn’t remember anything. The girl’s grandmother meets Brunetti at a fundraiser for a Venetian charity, and implores him to investigate. With more than a few trepidations, he agrees to look into the case. At first he is in charge of the case, but then the case takes over and he can’t resist delving deeper and deeper, until he will not rest until he gets to the bottom of it. Baltimore Sun: “Donna Leon is the undisputed crime fiction queen…Leon’s ability to capture the social scene and internal politics [of Venice] is first rate.” Seattle Times: “Intelligent and deeply satisfying mysteries…The Venetian detective has reached iconic status.”
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