Unto Us a Son is Given

Brunetti Investigates Inheritance
Review of the Atlantic Monthly Press hardcover edition (March 2019)

See image at https://s26162.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/View_of_the_Grand_Canal_Santa_...
"View of the Grand Canal Santa Maria della Salute and the Dogana from Campo Santa Maria Zobenigo" (c. 1743) painted by Bernardo Bellotto (1722-1780). Image sourced from LitHub

Unto Us a Son is Given is only my 2nd ever Donna Leon / Commissario Brunetti read after being introduced to the series earlier this year via Transient Desires. It is probably not the best idea to read these in reverse order as likely some spoilers will appear. This stood out at the library's Best Bets section at my last visit though and I snapped it up regardless.

Two show more books does seem to be enough to give an impression of how the Brunetti books are structured though. The books are more about family and the environment of Venice. The crimes are almost secondary and come along very late in the book. The pleasure of these novels is the warm family life of Brunetti and his relationship with his wife and kids. This is such a relief after too many modern books deal with angsty protagonists with tormented backgrounds and issues.

Unto Us a Son is Given has Brunetti being asked by his father-in-law to investigate the planned adoption of a grown man by an elderly friend of their family, who is even a godfather to Brunetti's kids. The suspicion is the 'adoption' is a coverup for the lusts of the old man for a younger companion, and that the adoptee is actually a grifter hoping to inherit the old man's money. Things become even more complicated when another friend of the old man travels to Venice and is murdered. Brunetti has to unravel all the backgrounds in order to arrive at the truth.

I'm definitely planning to continue with more Brunettis in the future, hopefully in chronological order if I can source them. They are an excellent contrast to the Commissario Montalbano series by Andrea Camilleri (my other favourite Italian police procedurals) which are more cynical but which also play up the various comic foibles of their characters. Donna Leon's Brunetti is more warm and her capture of the atmosphere of Venice (where she lived for 25 years) is excellent. show less

This is a novel about silence: the importance of thinking before speaking. It is about greed and indifference to it. As always, it is about love.

Brunetti's friends are aging. Men he has cherished all his life are growing frail and cantankerous. They are dying.

At the end of his long life, Gonzalo Rodreguez de Tejada, a wealthy art dealer, decides to reward his lover by adopting him as his son, a stratagem that skirts Italian inheritance law. Love, lust, beauty and desire, what better ingredients for a murder?

Unfortunately the plot and the murderer are instantly clear. That didn't bother me because I read Donna Leon for the thoughtful writing and her images of Venice. If you like suspense you won't be pleased with this one.

I received a show more review copy of "Unto Us a Son Is Given" by Donna Leon (Grove Atlantic) through NetGalley.com. show less

Venetian Commissario di Polizia Guido Brunetti is not your run-of-the-mill detective. He neither smokes nor drinks excessively, and is polite to his family, colleagues, and acquaintances. In Donna Leon’s “Unto Us a Son is Given,” Guido’s father-in-law, the wealthy and aristocratic Conte Orazio Falier, asks Brunetti to look into the private affairs of Falier’s close friend, Gonzalo Rodriguez de Tejeda. Much to il Conte’s chagrin, Gonzalo, who is eighty-five and openly gay, has decided to adopt a man more than forty years his junior. The octogenarian insists that he is motivated by nothing more than loneliness and a desire for love. Furthermore, he argues, is it really anyone else’s business what he does with his substantial show more wealth?

Another matter is one that Guido’s boss, Vice-Questore Patta, wants cleared up. Patta’s downstairs neighbor has an obnoxious eight-year old son who is extremely rude to Signora Patta, going so far as to call her despicable names, kick her groceries down the stairs, and even bang his schoolbag into her. Can Guido enlist the help of the brilliant Signorina Elletra Zorzi, an incomparable computer genius and formidable researcher, to find out more about the boy and his parents? The father, who is well-connected, refutes Signora Patta’s claims that his child is a menace and must be disciplined.

As fans of this series undoubtedly know, Brunetti is not a workaholic. He often sleeps late; eats delicious lunches and dinners prepared by his devoted wife, Paola; relies on Signorina Elletra to do most of his digging (she is arguably one of the most capable detectives in the book); and spends much of his leisure time reading and chatting with Paola. Guido is easygoing and an intellectual who relishes the ancient Greek and Roman classics. He is also compassionate, highly educated, a student of human nature, and savvy in his dealings with witnesses and suspects. Moreover, he usually manages to sidestep the machinations of his inept and duplicitous superiors.

This is a deliberately-paced novel in which the author demonstrates the consequences of greed, lust, anger, and selfishness. Another of Leon’s themes is the contrast between close-knit and loving relationships and those that are destructive and abusive. There are a few twists along the way, but the thin plot generates little suspense, and the conclusion is unsurprising. As always, Leon vividly describes the sights and sounds of Venice, alludes to the city’s social mores, and reminds us of the vast gulf between the affluent citizenry and those who barely get by. “Unto Us the Son is Given” is a light snack that is sometimes tasty, but ultimately leaves us wishing for more substantial fare. show less

Compulsively readable with an unassuming, graceful prose...

The exotic Venetian settings and Commissario Guido Brunetti’s old-school investigative methods are very charming, but it is the character-driven narrative that makes Donna Leon’s Brunetti series highly addictive. In this 28th Brunetti novel, Brunetti is urged by his father-in-law Count Falier to investigate the seemingly innocent plan of his best friend Gonzalo Rodríguez de Tejada’s adoption of an adult male as his son. Despite his reluctance to intervene in personal affairs of the elderly Gonzalo, Brunetti agrees to look into the matter, but Gonzalo dies soon after. The investigation becomes a homicide affair after one of Gonzalo’s close lady friends is found strangled show more in her hotel room. The victim has arrived in the city for Gonzalo’s memorial service. It’s up to Commissario Brunetti to solve the mystery now. Tagging along Brunetti, readers marvel at the antiquity and majesty of the city and experience Brunetti’s musings: they get to read another classic and see the city like a native Venetian while the former solves the murder in his usual style—by concentrating on the people behind the crime rather than on the crime. The case changes with every new book, but Leon’s sleuth is the same guy as ever; he still reads, appreciates good food and wine, deals sensitively with victims of crimes, is happily married and have great kids, thousands of things still bother him as always, and he is very much a humane cop. There are a few misleading diversions, but that wouldn’t stop readers from enjoying Leon’s latest slow burning mystery. show less

Guido Brunetti, commissario of the Venice police, has just received a rather unusual request from his father-in-law, Conte Orazio Falier. It seems that il Conte’s oldest friend, Gonzalo Rodriguez de Tejada, is in failing health and he wants to adopt his much younger gay lover as a son before he passes. At stake is the nobleman’s considerable inheritance and Falier wants Brunetti’s help to prevent his friend from making a terrible mistake in judgment. After initially refusing, Guido does get involved in the affair but it is not until two people have died—one under sudden and unusual circumstances—that he is able to resolve the case.

So goes the basic plot of Unto Us a Son Is Given, the latest installment in Donna Leon’s show more long-running series of Italian police procedurals. For devoted readers of these novels, the pleasure of each new story is that it allows for a deeper dive into the everyday lives of characters who have become beloved fictional fixtures. (Indeed, the main reason why this series has reached its twenty-eighth volume is that the main protagonists are so compelling.) In the case of this novel, that is an especially good thing because the mystery itself is really quite thin and not particularly engaging. Further, a second storyline involving Guido’s attempt to help his boss deal with some unruly neighbors is mercifully forgotten almost as soon as it is introduced.

What is left, though, is more than enough to make this a satisfying reading experience. I loved the sense of place that the author was able to create throughout the novel. She has a great talent for making it feel as if we are walking the streets, dining in the restaurants, or moving through the canals of one of the world’s truly remarkable cities. I also enjoyed the frequent glimpses into the hearts and minds of Brunetti and his wife Paola, who is an independent and fully developed character in her own right. This is a novel in which relationships, rather than the whodunit aspects, are placed front and center and I think that was a good decision. show less

Commissario Guido Brunetti’s father-in-law, Count Orazio Falier, is worried about the behaviour of an old family friend, who has decided to adopt a much younger man as his son in order to leave his fortune to that person. When the Count asks Guido to look into this matter, he is at first reluctant to do so, but eventually feels that he should at least determine whether the family friend is being unduly influenced or manipulated. Fortunately, after an uncomfortable conversation, Guido decides that the situation is not his business and he moves on to other things. But when the old man dies, and then a friend of the old man is murdered, he begins to wonder if he made the wrong decision…. A hint of Ms. Leon’s writing style comes when show more Guido is irritated at Spring weather, then hears the chirping of birds: “Joy leaped at him: it was springtime again, the birds were back.” Spring-time feels that way, doesn’t it, and what a lovely way of putting it. As always with this series, reading such prose is a delight, as the author delves into philosophical questions even while describing the difficulties and beauties of life in Venice and, in this case, the extremely arcane realm of Italian inheritance law. At the same time, some of the long-standing relationships in the series deepen, in particular between Guido and his boss, Vice-Questore Patta, which is very satisfying. Very highly recommended! show less

Compulsively readable with an unassuming, graceful prose...

The exotic Venetian settings and Commissario Guido Brunetti’s old-school investigative methods are very charming, but it is the character-driven narrative that makes Donna Leon’s Brunetti series highly addictive. In this 28th Brunetti novel, Brunetti is urged by his father-in-law Count Falier to investigate the seemingly innocent plan of his best friend Gonzalo Rodríguez de Tejada’s adoption of an adult male as his son. Despite his reluctance to intervene in personal affairs of the elderly Gonzalo, Brunetti agrees to look into the matter, but Gonzalo dies soon after. The investigation becomes a homicide affair after one of Gonzalo’s close lady friends is found strangled show more in her hotel room. The victim has arrived in the city for Gonzalo’s memorial service. It’s up to Commissario Brunetti to solve the mystery now. Tagging along Brunetti, readers marvel at the antiquity and majesty of the city and experience Brunetti’s musings: they get to read another classic and see the city like a native Venetian while the former solves the murder in his usual style—by concentrating on the people behind the crime rather than on the crime. The case changes with every new book, but Leon’s sleuth is the same guy as ever; he still reads, appreciates good food and wine, deals sensitively with victims of crimes, is happily married and have great kids, thousands of things still bother him as always, and he is very much a humane cop. There are a few misleading diversions, but that wouldn’t stop readers from enjoying Leon’s latest slow burning mystery. show less