In spite of the recent lapses, a Guido Brunetti novel from Donna Leon is the literary equivalent of comfort food. They are familiar, reassuring, utterly reliable and always welcome. Beastly Things was comforting and disquieting simultaneously.
Food, of course, is a constant theme throughout the Brunetti series, which has become beloved of readers as much for the tastes and aromas of Paola Brunetti's kitchen as it is for her husband's cases. In Beastly Things, Leon takes the food theme one step further, placing Brunetti at the centre of a murder investigation that involves the processing of beef cattle for human consumption.
Set in Venice, Italy, the Commissario Guido Brunetti series takes us on tours of the city. Not just the tourist part, but the seedy back ends that bring in the murders and the victims. Here a body is fished out of a murky canal – a man who has been stabbed to death and who, as Brunetti discovers, suffered from a bizarre genetic disfigurement. As our Commissario and his sidekick, Vianello, investigate, they discover that in spite of his fearsome appearance, the dead man had a gentle nature. He was a vet with a devoted animal clientele. How could such a man have made enemies?
Quite easily, it transpires. He worked at a slaughterhouse, and Leon spares us nothing of the haunting sights, smells and sounds which the investigators encounter when they visit, shown round by an imperious and beautiful woman who has all the callous butcher staff in awe. The dead man's job was to certify that animals brought for slaughter were free from any disease that could be passed into the food-chain.
With the help of the ever devious Signorina Elettra, who has the tech skills of a hardened hacker, the team finds themselves slowly infiltrating the world of veterinarians and abattoirs. They soon realize there is an organised criminal side driven by human greed that may have something to do with the murder.
While Beastly Things deals with corruption in the Italian meat industry, but also blends in discussions on infidelity, Mafia, power, the horrendous Italian losses in the First World War and whose relatives and friends are more influential. All the main characters from the series, Paola, Guido, Vianello, Signorina Elettra and Vice-Questore Patta appear in the novel and by their actions or in-actions encapsulate the problem that is modern Italy.
One of my favourite things about Leon's books is the brilliant backdrop - Venice. The fading city is almost the main character of the books and the actual characters the backdrop. Beastly Things features the fascinating tension between Leon's deep-veined puritanism (here directed towards organized crime, the Italian government, and the food industry) and her exuberant subject - Venice. If sentiment unexpectedly breaks through at the end, it is exactly what Venice demands.
I really enjoyed this one. The ending was very well done, I thought. I enjoyed reading your review!
Posted by: Annie | October 27, 2012 at 07:31 AM
I loved the ending as well Anni - wasn't sure how to comment on it without giving it away but it really tug at mt heart . . . in a good way.
Posted by: JDeQ | November 03, 2012 at 07:51 AM