So shall you reap. (Commissario Guido Brunetti mystery, #32.)

In the thirty-second installment of Donna Leon’s bestselling series, a connection to Guido Brunetti’s own youthful past helps solve a mysterious murder On a cold November evening, Guido Brunetti and Paola are up late when a call from his colleague Ispettore Vianello arrives, alerting the Commissario that a hand has been seen in one of Venice’s canals. The body is soon found, and Brunetti is assigned to investigate the murder of an undocumented Sri Lankan immigrant. Because no official record of the man’s presence in Venice exists, Brunetti is forced to use the city’s far richer sources of information: gossip and the memories of people who knew the victim. Curiously, he had been living in a small house on the grounds of a palazzo owned by a university professor, in which Brunetti discovers books revealing the victim’s interest in Buddhism, the revolutionary Tamil Tigers, and the last crop of Italian political terrorists, active in the 1980s. As the investigation expands, Brunetti, Vianello, Commissario Griffoni, and Signora Elettra each assemble pieces of a puzzle—random information about real estate and land use, books, university friendships—that appear to have little in common, until Brunetti stumbles over something that transports him back to his own student days, causing him to reflect on lost ideals and the errors of youth, on Italian politics and history, and on the accidents that sometimes lead to revelation. Review Praise for So Shall You Reap: Named a Best Book of the Month by Amazon (Mystery, Thriller, and Suspense) “Donna Leon provides another delectable slice of the thoughtful policeman’s life at work and at home—where his wife, Paola (an expert on Henry James), keeps him and their two children, Chiara and Raffi, on their toes. So Shall You Reap is as witty and wise as anything Leon has written. To read her is to restore the soul.”—Mark Sanderson, Times (UK) “As always, Brunetti’s sensitivity to the human factor in his work—apparent in his sense of responsibility to the victims and his empathy with nearly all those he encounters—is what draws the reader to care for this character in a way that is very different from how we respond to most fictional sleuths. Add to that the richness of Brunetti’s domestic life—loving but never sentimental, defined more by a raised eyebrow than a rhetorical flourish—and you begin to see why this series occupies a very special place in the crime-fiction world. Over several decades, Leon has built an adoring band of readers who can’t get enough of Guido Brunetti and his family of colleagues and loved ones.”—Booklist (starred review) “The torture murder of an undocumented Sri Lankan immigrant, whose body was dumped in a Venice canal, drives bestseller Leon’s enjoyable 32nd outing for Commissario Guido Brunetti . . . Brunetti’s respect for his squad, coupled with his detectives’ regard for him, plays a major part in the crime solving, while the portrait of his strong marriage and solid relationship with his family serves to reinforce his beloved character. As usual, the rich backdrop of Venice complements the well-designed plot. Leon shows no signs of losing steam.” M.F