As much as I love to read modern crime fiction, with spectacular geopolitical and cyber-terrorist connections, I prefer once in a while the pleasant read of a classical novel, where the fast speed is replaced by a temperate pace, without hold-ups but eventually featuring an intelligent, well-read detective.
The 25th installment of the series dedicated to Commissario Brunetti from Venice, The Waters of Eternal Youth, doesn't take your breath away but invites to a subtle investigation for finding the person responsible for an accident taking place 15 years ago. As in the case of the other stories featuring the famous Italian detective, there are many local intrigues and spicey Venetian gossips and rich-people stories - and their problems, but also interesting reflections on current political and social issues, as the Italian divisive situation or the position regarding immigration and immigrants.
The fall - finding what happened with the granddaughter of a local personality, who after being throw into the waters suffered a severe mental retard - seems to go nowhere after the first half of the book. In fact, it seems that everything is possible to happen in this book except to solve the riddle. Until he is identified, completely by accident, but Venice is a small world and sometimes things just can happen, there is no trace of him into the story, but the elements that make sense of the final answer are carefully created.
As all the books by Donna Leon I've read, you need to use both logic and creativity to understand the end of the story. It also has many educated references, to Greek tragedies or classical literature.
This book is recommended to anyone interested to spend some intelligent time reading a classical crime fiction novel. In the company of Commissario Brunetti the (literary) life is never uneventful.
Rating: 4 stars
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