Wilful Behaviour

An extraordinary art collection owned by an elderly Austrian woman is kept, rather rashly, in her flat. When she is discovered dead, the case lands in Brunetti's lap, and Leon's sardonic copper soon discovers secrets involving collaboration and the exploitation of Italian Jews during the war. The brick wall he encounters seems impregnable--very few people are happy to talk about what they know. But this time his wife Paola becomes involved. One of her students tells Brunetti about a crime committed by her grandfather who died in a mental home after escaping prison, then the girl is savagely stabbed to death What is her connection with the murdered Austrian woman with and her art collection? Brunetti gets closer to a labyrinthine plot that cuts across every level of Venetian society.

Brunetti remains one of the most persuasively characterised protagonists in crime fiction, and it's nice to see Paola Brunetti move centre stage in this one--she's a winning character. Donna Leon's authoritatively written novels combine machine-tooled plotting with her customarily vivid Italian locations. Living in Venice for over 20 years has given Leon a finger-tip knowledge of her locale, and she's unbeatable at conjuring up La Serenissima. But these are detective novels that don't merely utilise Venice as an exotic backdrop for mysteries and bloodletting; we are given brilliantly observed vignettes of workaday Venice as well. Wilful Behaviour may be slower exerting its grip than earlier Brunettis, but Leon's inexorable skills soon have us gripped quite as comprehensively as ever. --Barry Forshaw