by C de Burlet

Created on: May 19, 2009

It's the first day of spring in Venice and Commissario Brunetti is contemplating its delights when his colleague and friend Commissario Vianello disturbs the peace. Vianello's friend Marco has been arrested during a greens protest outside a factory belonging to his father-in-law de Cal. When Brunetti and Vianello manage to get Marco released, they witness an angry confrontation between Marco and de Cal.

In the meantime, Vice-Questore Patta contemplates applying for a job at Interpol. Brunetti and Vianello have no time to keep track of this career-move, for De Cal and the Murano glass-industry become part of an investigation. At first, it's an investigation into threats, but soon someone has a fatal accident. Brunetti, who has met the man's family and interviewed the man, is left with leaflets and a book on Industrial Illness plus a copy of Dante's Purgatorio. In the end, these clues will help Brunetti and Vianello solve a very nasty case.

But before the reader and Brunetti solve this case, Donna Leon immerses the reader to Brunetti's Venice. There are the lovely descriptions of the arrival of spring in Venice with gardens and flowers changing according to the progress of the season. There are the walks Brunetti takes from his office to his home, or to interview suspects. As in all the books of this series, the reader walks right beside or behind Brunetti, or stands with him in a vaporetto or some other boat travelling across the calm or choppy Venetian waters. There is also the food that Vianello and Brunetti eat at restaurants. On pages 72-73, they are in a restaurant with someone in connection with the investigation and share a lunch: spaghetti with vongole, grilled rombo, and coda di rospo with patate bollite, washed down with white wine and mineral water and a coffee to finish things off. Food at Brunetti's home is just as enticing. On page 171 a family meal is described: fried artichoke bottoms, pork ribs with polenta, baked pear and a coffee and grappa to conclude this dinner.

However, the darker sides of Venetian life are also described in this book: Brunetti and Scarpa are involved in a power-struggle and fans of this series know that Scarpa is Patta's man. Patta practically orders Brunetti to stop working on the Murano threats. Murano and it's industry are part of the book's main theme: tourism and other industries and the dependency of Venetians on them to make a living, versus pollution and its effects on nature as well as on human lives. But Donna Leon also offers the reader an interesting glimpse of the Murano glass industry with explanations of the whole creative process, as well as the various tasks, jobs, and risks involved.

So this book is much more than an excellent thriller to be recommended to any reader. It is also a kind of travelogue and introduction to aspects of contemporary life in Venice, while at the same time offering something to think about: one may ridicule the greens, but not all of their claims are ridiculous.

"Through a Glass Darkly" by Donna Leon, published by William Heinemann in 2006, pp 256.

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