When a young woman returns from holiday to find her elderly
neighbour dead, she immediately alerts the police. Commissario
Brunetti is called to the scene but, though there are signs of a
struggle, it seems the woman has simply suffered a fatal heart
attack. Vice-Questore Patta is eager to dismiss the case as a death
from natural causes, but Brunetti believes there is more to it than
that. His suspicions are further aroused when the medical examiner
finds faint bruising around the victim's neck and shoulders,
indicating that someone might have grabbed and shaken her. Could
this have caused her heart attack? Was someone threatening her?
Conversations with the woman's son, her upstairs neighbour, and
the nun in charge of the old-age home where she volunteered, do
little to satisfy Brunetti's nagging curiosity. With the help
of Inspector Vianello and the ever-resourceful Signorina Elettra,
Brunetti is determined to get to the truth and find some measure of
justice. Insightful and emotionally powerful, Drawing Conclusions
reaffirms Donna Leon's status as one of the masters of literary
crime fiction.
"[Leon's] portrait of Venice and modern Italy is, as always, captivating...The lively conversations between...characters, displaying Leon's sly humour, are a delight." Evening Standard "With characteristic skill, Leon draws together multiple threads and a well-rounded cast ... With the steady, unsentimental style that has become her signature, Donna Leon keeps us hesitating until the last corner is turned." Times Literary Supplement "Leon's clear-eyed descriptions of Venice still make you long to return to the calles and campos of the floating city." Sunday Telegraph "More elegant, understated crime fighting from the mistress of La Serinissima...A welcome return to the comfortable characters and locations that her fans have come to love." Independent "[Leon] is a master at weaselling her way into the venal byways of human selfishness and laying them bare. ... There's a quietness to the crimes here that is more powerful than outlandish violence, and which points to the philosophical bedrock from which Leon so effectively works." Scottish Sunday Herald
