The golden egg, Donna Leon

Commissario Guido Brunetti gets a phonecall from his wife Paola. She tells him the man everybody thought was a bit retarded and who worked at the dry cleaners died suddenly. It looks like a simple overdose (sleepingpills), but was it an accident or something else? Brunetti finds out the name of the man was Davide, but that is all he can find. Nowhere in the entire city is there any record of the man.

Upset by the fact that this man was somebody who did not exist officially and who had been invisible for his entire life, Guido Brunetti wants to solve this case. What role did Davide’s mother play and what was her connection to the rich Lembo family? Why did Davide not speak and how and why did he die? Slowly Brunetti finds out the truth, and this is even more horrible than he could have imagined.

You read the books by Donna Leon for the atmosphere. You read them for the beauty of Venice and the Italian customs. You read them for the light criticism of society nowadays and the descriptions of Italian meals.

Brunetti is a kind and intelligent man. His family is a bit irritating, but in this book it is not as bad as it could be.

The golden egg deals with a theme that is quite disturbing, but does not give you the gruesome details. And that makes the story have even more impact.

Police enquiries in the books by Donna Leon mostly consists of talking to people, Brunetti thinking about the case, Venice and life in general while he walks through Venice or takes the boat. That might not be for everyone, but as far as I am concerned, The golden egg is a very good edition to the series.

Published in 2013