It's a wandering through Venizia , Enrico taking his ex-wife to places when they were deeply in love ;and however ,he was not a faithful husband ,it's really a warts-and-all depiction(Enrico throws away the bouquet) inside a romantic journey through the past. Still relatively young and attractive, Valeria and Enrico look more like brother and sister, with the same square jaws, abundant dark hair and cold stare, but they're actually married. In fact, they split up seven years previously but divorce was not legal in Italy until 1974, therefore they are still married, although Valeria lives with another man.

It's rather dated in that AIDS is held to an entity definition, treatment that has rather changed in connotations. But the traipsing for inquiry is hardly different than on other cases. Just in that Guido meets many males in the sex trades here. If I should compare these books to my two old time favorite detective writers, Christie and Simenon, Leon’s books seem to me closer to Simenon’s setting. She presents slices of Venetian society, both the flashy and the seedy sides. There is a whiff of sadness in some aspects of the story, resignation and loneliness. Christie’s stories often seem to take place in a historical bubble of middle and upper class Britain between wars, where things are fun and proper, maids and butlers are well trained and . Leon, on the other hand, is anchored in her present day - illegal immigrants, LGBT-Q rights, inequality, systemic corruption. There is no preachiness in her books, which I love. And there is no info dumping either, which I love too. She assumes that the reader will be cultured enough to understand her references (from Caravaggio and Savonarola, to recent Italian corruption scandals) or do a bit of research, if needed. She doesn’t write either overtly intellectual settings, not too dumbed-down. Anonimo Veneziano" is the name of the oboe concerto, but perhaps he is referring to the protagonist or his wife. It's a very specific film that encapsulates the kind of marital rebirth depicted in "Viaggio in Italia" in a single day in Venice, but it's extremely disappointing that the film didn't get any more recognition than its theme song and the episodes surrounding it.

As the investigation proceeds, the body count mounts and Brunetti must once again wrestle with the corrupt bureaucracy of Italy where powerful people are able to buy the police and ensure the outcomes that they desire from government offices. Hmm...that does hit a bit too close to home. As this book opens, Brunetti is looking forward to escaping the steamy summer of Venice with his family; his plans are put on hold when the body of a badly beaten man is discovered in an industrial wasteland, frequented by prostitutes and their clients. The astonishingly beautiful scenery, the most romantic music, the live drama are just perfect. Its European cinema at its best. No need for special effects or expensive sets. The city itself provides everything needed. That being said, this particular entry was not my favorite. I think I was put off in part by the constant references to the oppressive heat and humidity. I do know something about oppressive heat and humidity. It's late May here and our daily temperatures in Southeast Texas hover in the upper 90s F with humidity to match. Working in the garden for an hour requires a complete change of clothes when one comes inside else one drips all over the floor and furniture. So, yes, I do understand the pervasiveness of that particular climatic feature and how it dominates every other consideration, and I can understand that the author felt the need to continually refer to it. I guess I just found that a bit of overkill since I was living it every time I stepped outside. Another reader might have a completely different reaction. Enrico asked Valeria to come to Venice for mysteryour reasons which he seems reluctant to divulge and while they walk and talk, they have the time to reminisce about their happy past in the city. Unfortunately, their conversation has nothing of the fluidity of movies such "Before sunrise". Enrico seems mean spirited and Valeria mostly angry.

The parallel between dying Enrico and the town itself sinking and turning into silt has always been used , but here it's done in a tasteful way ;for a man without a future, who is afraid of dying in his sleep , clinging to memories is the only thing left to him ; the future is only this child , he won't see growing up, but who maybe will play his records (hence the gift ).When the pasta was done, he poured it through a colander, tossed it into a serving bowl, then poured the sauce on top of it. With a large spoon, he swirled it round, then went out on to the terrace, where he had already taken a fork, a glass and a bottle of Cabernet. He ate from the bowl. Their terrace was so high that the only people close enough to see what he was doing would have to be in the bell tower of the church of San Polo. He ate all the pasta, wiping the remaining sauce up with a piece of bread, then took the bowl inside and came out with a plate of freshly washed figs. Paola is her usual "know it all" critique expert on the subject of gays and also makes a tuna sauce that sounds intriguing. The case is sordid--a man dressed in women's clothing was found beaten to death in a field near a slaughterhouse, an area known as a rendezvous between prostitutes and factory workers heading home after work. But as Brunetti and the Mestre force begin investigating, it becomes likely that the man was neither a transvestite nor a prostitute. When Brunetti encounters a noted lawyer in the home of a transvestite on their interview list, and Brunetti suspects the man is lying about recognizing the murdered man's photo, the case assumes a different shape. Soon Brunetti is pursuing the strangely anonymous activities of La Lega della Moralita, a charitable group supposedly helping the "deserving poor" find apartments in Venice's labyrinthine real estate world. A massive fraud begins to rise to the surface--and then, on the way home from a routine stakeout, an officer is killed in a hit-and-run accident.