Willful Behavior by Donna Leon

This one was more of a "grabber" than Leon usually presents. Brunetti is not anything like an American hard-core police detective. I have just been reading some Faye Kellerman, and Decker is stands somewhere way down the line from Brunetti, although even Decker is not the trigger-happy denizen of the small screen, he is a member of LAPD and all that implies to us TV addicts. Decker and Brunetti both gave up careers as attorneys to work in law enforcement, in part because both found the practice of law a singularly inappropriate description of what it entailed.

Brunetti is much more a thinker than an action cop. Not to mention his fascination with the ancient philosophers and historians. This, of course, to contrast with Paola's obsession with 19th century American writers, specifically Henry James. Brunetti suffers pangs of guilt whenever circumstances require him to evade the truth with suspects; it doesn't stop him, but he does think about it. He even occasionally considers the ethics of allowing Signorina Elettra to exploit her vast network of associates whose skill at persuading reluctant security systems to give up their secrets is unparalleled.

Naturally, being Venetian and Italian (in that order) Brunetti's attitude toward the political establishment is anomalous at best. You will never find him uttering or even thinking, "But it is the law!" For him truth and justice trump law every time.

This time the victim is one of Paola's students from the university, and the investigation takes us back to the dark days of World War II and Il Duce. The usual motives apply: greed, lust, and acquisitiveness. And again all Venetian society seems a very small stage. And again we have one of Leon's inconclusive endings. The murderer is not prosecuted and the treasure falls into the hands of the state. But this time Brunetti exacts a personal and most fitting punishment on both the perpetrator and the one who set up the murder.