Another wonderful police procedural from Leon. Set in Venice, Brunetti is called to the side of a dying woman. She believes her husband was murdered a few weeks earlier. The investigation leads him to a chemically polluted water supply. I love these cozy mysteries.

Inspector Guido Brunetti is again tasked with what seems to be the impossible - find out why a dying woman's claim that her husband was killed for "bad money" with no other clues or facts to help. Besides having to take baby steps to each clue, all of Venice has to deal with unseasonable heat. Where does Guido begin and will it take him to the right conclusion.

It amazes me that this series can have such great characters while also addressing social/environmental issues without seeming stuffing and boring. This time however, it seems that there wasn't enough character interaction for me.

I'm sorry, I cannot write or post a review of Trace Elements by Donna Leon. The ARC that I received via NetGalley is incomplete. It appears to be missing the last 50 pages or thereabouts. I read what I have, but it ends abruptly in mid-dialogue. If it is all possible to get a complete copy, I would be happy to complete it and write a review.

As I send this feedback and am required to rate the book, I will give it four stars -- what I've read so far is worth five stars, but until I find out how it actually ends, I'll post four stars and wait to see what happens next.

Thanks!

Update, 18 months later:

So this was a weird experience for me. 18 months ago I received an advance copy of the E-book of this novel. My review at the time (above) was short -- the book was incomplete, I couldn't assess it without reading the ending, and asked for the rest of it. Now, I've just finished the audio edition, and I found that the ARC was not incomplete -- the book actually did end in mid-conversation without resolving some plot threads.

I'm stunned at how badly written Trace Elements is, given that it's the 29th entry in a bestselling popular series. Commissario Brunetti is a great character -- the only reason I give the book two stars instead of one (or the zero it really deserves -- but please, he's not the world's brightest detective, is he? The solution to the mystery is fairly obvious right from the start, given the dead man's profession, and we have to watch as Brunetti slowly pieces together what happened in his own mind even as we've already figured it all out.

But to be fair to Brunetti (who is after all a fictional character), he is not the one who is incompetent, the author is. At one point, Brunetti thinks to himself, why didn't I ask for that key piece of information right from the start? And why didn't my hyper-competent research assistant think of asking for it? Of course, the real problem here is that the author didn't think of it earlier, or else she just wanted to draw out the plot so she conveniently allowed an accomplished investigator and his hyper-competent assistant to conveniently forget it.

It gets worse. Brunetti interviews someone the dead man called in his last days. A 20-minute chapter is wasted on this interview, which only adds one minor piece of information, that the dead man suspected something that we as readers have already figured out (quite easily) and took it to a journalist who had written on the subject. The chapter is really just Leon whining about the state of Italian journalism, which may very well be the point, but is bad writing since it doesn't advance the story.

Then there is the red herring sub-plot. Another area that, in the end after it is completely abandoned unresolved, is obviously just something Leon wanted to whine about -- again, no doubt that is her true motivation for introducing it, but it is just bad writing. Two examples of irrelevant material that is just filler.

And then there is the final hour, before the abrupt ending that ends in mid-conversation -- talking villain. An hour! Explaining every little detail, despite the fact that he is confessing to multiple heinous crimes -- despite the fact that Brunetti tries several to get him to stop talking! And this is all doubly bad because we've already figured all this out for ourselves, we really don't need this long winded explanation. Just awful awful story construction.

I'm so disappointed. I've been wanting to read Donna Leon since I first heard of her during my last trip to Venice. I really thought there was a missing ending to the E-book that would tie it all together. The recurring characters are good, from Brunetti on down, but Leon doesn't do them justice. And she insults our intelligence with her storytelling, from discredited devices like the talking villain to the poorly plotted mystery that is so easy to see through from early on to her whining about things that have nothing to do with the story.

And then there's the narration. David Colacci has narrated all 30 entries in this series, so I guess I'm a minority of one in airing this grievance, but who thought it was a good idea to use Italian accents to read English dialogue? In reality they'd be speaking Italian, but Leon is writing in English -- why make them sound like Chico Marx and Father Guido Sarducci and Abbott and Costello's neighbor Mr. Bacciagalupe? Another insult.

Another solid entry in a stellar series by Donna Leon. This reviewer has savored the family encounters, the wonderful food, and the views.

I have this addiction to the Donna Leon series starring the intrepid Commissario Guido Brunetti. Leon’s stories seldom have me reading on the edge of the seat. Nor are her stories built with a “grand reveal” of the bad guy. And Brunetti’s Venice is not so much charming as it is an aging beauty of a town that has an abundance of problems, issues, corruption, and all around troubles. All that still makes for captivating storylines with a hero who is imperfect but still noble.
In this 29th book in the series there are two seemingly straightforward cases that are not connected: (1) Two girls that picketpocketed the wife of a powerful person; and (2) A dying woman who wishes (needs) to confess a mighty secret to the police. The plots intertwine with the undercurrent of environmental corruption by the rich and corrupted. So although Ms. Leon leans “left” in her politics I still find myself enjoying the rich world of Guido Brunetti.

An enjoyable tale though for me it is not as well conceived as some of her previous work. Venice is still depicted wonderfully, but the plot and characters do not flow. In all not one of the better novels.

Just before dying, a woman tells Brunetti and Comisario Griffoni that her late husband came across some bad money, and that's why "they" killed him. They promise to investigate and that leads to uncovering some grave things about water and how the contamination is supposed to be contained.

This is the 29th installment in the Guido Brunetti series and I'm glad to see Donna Leon is giving more space to Comissario Griffoni because she is a very interesting character. I missed having more of Paola and Signorina Elettra in this book, but maybe the next one is going to be all about them? That would be amazing :)

If you're used to reading this series, I think this book will be just what you want to read.. If you're not familiar with Donna Leon's work, please beware that things advance very slowly, and that sometimes the author uses a few pages to describe things that are not that interesting to the story (such as what jacket Guido is wearing, or all the steps to fixing Brunetti's lunch), but to me this is not a bad thing at all. Actually, it's something that I love about these stories, because it helps me to really get into the Venetian setting of the book, and to understand the character a little bit more, because all of these things are important to him. These books are not meant to be thrillers, but interesting cases in an iconic city, solved by very smart but quite normal people. I will absolutely continue to read this series!

Four stars!

What was going to happen seemed predictable from the beginning: Donna Leon continues with the same mantra. A murder is discovered. Guido Brunetti arrives on the scene and finds some entity is polluting the environment with industrial waste. This is another of Leon’s commentaries on the pollution not only of Venice, but in the rest of the world by an industry without a social conscience. Important though the position may be, this reader would like to see more variety in Leon’s lovely writing.
In addition, I missed Paola’s, Guido’s wife, cooking. This novel lacked some of the delightful details of Paola’s interesting Italian meals which add color to her stories. A disappointment.
Thank you to NetGalley for loaning me a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

It must have been a very hot, muggy and exhausting summer in Venice...

The book is exhaustingly slow and sticky. Nothing happens for most of the novel. Nothing.

Reader does get the ususal treat: Venice, Brunetti’s family dynamic, insights into civic works in Venice together with intricacies of police and justice system in Italy. And you get a lot of info on how water supply system works in Italy. Fascinating read. Also, reader gets a bit of nostalgia from Guido and a lot of Italian words.

I can’t read book holding a dictionary. Thus, this peppering of Italian slang or out right Italian words did annoy me a bit (even though I love Italian Language).

But nothing happens. Brunetti and his partner do visit dying woman at hospice. But then go out and about their mundane work of catching thiefs and saving mayor’s reputation.

There is no body. There is no murder. OR is there. You have to read to the very end to get it.

I understand author’s desire to shine the light on many problems in Italians’ life using her own fame and status as popular crime writer. However, I wanted more from Brunetti. I wanted suspense and mystery. May be covered in all these nice titbits, but still mystery and suspence…

I got myself a list of Brunetti’s adventures to read though. I only read first 2 by now and absolutely loved them both. That’s why I jumped at the chance to read Trace Elements for NetGalley.

However, only 3 stars… for atmosphere and setting but absence of anything else…

Quotes

‘suddenly wanting this conversation never to end, to stand and talk about books with the woman he loved and to know he had the good sense to see this moment as one of the great gifts life had given him’.

‘they had been together in situations of great physical danger, yet,it was her grace in dealing with people who’d come unthethered in reaction to loss or betrayal that had impressed, and steadied, him most.

I have been a fan of Donna Leon's Commissario Brunetti from the beginning of the series, but lately I have not enjoyed the books. Trace Elements is the latest and in it the author has Brunetti again expressing frustration with the number of tourists in Venice, the corruption of the Venetian government and the fruitlessness of the Italian bureaucracy making Brunetti's quest for justice futile and pathetic. This storyline is more of the same - someone discovers the government (or a corporation) is doing something corrupt, gets killed and the family wants to know why. I am sorry to say, as with Louise Penny's latest book, I am finished with Donna Leon for now. I hope Brunetti's point of view changes now that no one is visiting Venice, but I doubt it. Too bad this was an excellent series in the beginning. Now it is only a 2.5 stars book for me.

I have read and very much enjoyed many Comisario Brunetti books by Donna Leon. Trace Elements, her most recent is good, but not great. I say this because I have noticed in her last few books in the attitude of the characters living in Venice a disdain for tourists and the impact they have made because they invade the city by the millions and don't make much effort to learn about the city beyond checking sites off a list. There's also a strong bias towards being "preachy" about the impact of global warming and destruction of the environment. What I love about this book and all the other books in the series is that I feel like I'm actually in Venice (I've never been, but want to visit someday). Guido Brunetti has a bone-deep love of Venice and that really comes shining through. He has a skepticism about the Italian way of piling on the bureaucracy and has discovered ways of bypassing this frequently, especially with the assistance of the incredibly capable Senora Elettra Zorzi (assistant to the bumbling and politically savvy Vice Questora Patta). Brunetti is also surrounded by capable women including his colleague Claudia Griffoni who works with Brunetti to interview a woman in hospice that requests the hospice staff to summon the police. What ensues is a dogged investigation where at the beginning it's not even certain there's been a crime committed, perhaps it's just a series of unfortunate events. The investigation by Brunetti and his network of contacts leads to an interesting, but rushed denouement. The ending feels very "Italian" in that it's messy and not everyone responsible gets punished. In her next book (and I hope she writes more) I would love to see more of Brunetti's family relationships, especially his wife, she is a very different personality from her husband and they have a complex and loving relationship and completely understand each other.

I always enjoy the Brunetti novels, and this one was particularly effective at evoking the heat of a Venetian summer. I could absolutely picture myself on the balcony sharing a caprese and chilled wine. I liked the introduction of Brunetti's former colleague, perhaps we will see him in future novels. The central case of the novel, while interesting, was not as gripping and seemed forced when compared to earlier books in the series.

Alas this is not my favorite book in this long-running and magical series. For first time readers I strongly suggest reading them in order. However, for die hard fans of the author, this book is still a must read. It captures the spirit and culture of Venice. Ms Leon has voiced her thoughts in the book about increasingly intrusive tourism in the city. Having visited Venice I can see she is definitely right. But it’s a wonderful place and makes an amazing backdrop for this book series. This book was provided to me by NetGalley and the publishers in exchange for an honest review.

This book is like the way people move in the hot summer sun in Venice: leisurely. It starts with the case (that I only recognized as a 'case' because it is mentioned in the blurb) but then it takes Brunetti a third of the book - which equals one day - before he picks up his inquiries.

In between there young pickpocketing girls mentioned (I had no clue why that was in there in the first place) and detailled description of every step Brunetti takes, every move he makes, every snack he eats, every room he enters or plaza he crosses or book he opens. I appreciate a sense for detail, but the author should also keep in mind the pace of the story.

And this pace was way to slow, which made the whole story a bit boring to me. Although the topic as such is worth a detective story, but it is dwarfed by too much insignificant 'trace elements'.

I've been reading Commissario Brunnetti mysteries since the beginning of time and this was as pleasant and familiar as they always are. A good solid mystery. Lovely Venice. Our old friend.

First Sentence: A man and a woman deep in conversation approached the steps of Pone dei Lustraferi, both looking hot and uncomfortable on this late July afternoon.

Benedetta Toso, a dying hospice patient who asks to speak with the police, claims her husband, Vittorio Fadalto, was murdered over “bad money.” Commissario Brunetti and his colleague, Claudia Griffoni, promise to investigate the matter, but was it murder or an accident? Suspicions mount as they learn more about Vittorio's job collecting samples of water to be tested for contamination. Piecing together the tangled threads, Brunetti comes to realize the perilous meaning in the woman’s accusation and the threat it reveals to the health of the entire region.

With an excellent beginning, one learns that being a Neapolitan in Venice is a "far greater handicap than being a woman."—and that one may not want to visit Venice during the summer. Leon's voice is always a pleasure. When talking about the heat, she conveys the sense of it without referencing it directly --"Brunetti realized only then how hot he was. He tried to lift his right leg, but it was glued to the chair by sweat." It is these touches that bring Venice to life by allowing us to see the city as those who live there do.

There is a second plot thread of two Romany pickpockets. It is interesting to learn the differences between how crimes are handled in Italy versus the United States. The secondary plot does raise interesting points.

Leon's descriptions, from the route to an address Brunetti takes that only a resident would know, to his description of a room badly decorated, to food, are a delight and bring the city to life. Even a plate of sandwiches at a bar sound good--"From the sides of the sandwiches spilled ham, egg tomato, tuna salad, radicchio, rucola, shrimp, artichokes, asparagus, and olives."

Leon is wonderful at injecting verbal exchanges to make one chuckle. When called into his boss's office, Signorina Elettra remarks--"If you aren't out in fifteen minutes, I'll call the police." However, she is also very good at making one pause and consider, as with Bruno's conversation with a nurse--"But if you work with death, you have to become spiritual, or you can't do it any more. ... when they get close to the end, you can sense their spirit, or you sense that it's there. They do, too. And it helps them. And us." She knows how to touch one's emotions-- "Griffoni…raised a hand and threw open her palm, as if to release the dead woman's spirit into the air. The three of them remained silent for enough time to allow that spirit to escape the room..."

There is something wonderful about a policeman who reads Lysistrata for pleasure and describes Agamemnon as a "windbag commander." The relationship between Brunetti and his wife Paoli adds normality. It is one of a couple who has been married a long time and still loves one another. An interesting characteristic of Leon is that when her characters are in a professional setting, she references them by their surnames, yet when in a personal setting, or amongst one another as friends, she uses their first names.

Leon is incredibly good at building a story. She takes one along with her through the steps with an amazing subtlety to the clues.

"Trace Elements" is a police procedural without car chases or gunplay, but with a somewhat political theme. It is a very contemporary mystery with a contemporary crime. It reflects on the degradation of true justice in our time and on compromise. For some, the ending may not seem satisfactory, but upon reflection, there is some small justice among justice that cannot be achieved.

TRACE ELEMENTS (PolProc-Comm. Guido Brunetti-Venice-Contemp) - VG
Leon, Donna – 29th in series
Atlantic Monthly - Mar 2020

I am ashamed to say that I had not heard of Donna Leon's Brunetti series of detective fiction until I read this book. However, "Trace Elements" stands very well as a one-off and I don't feel that I lost anything by not having "met" the characters before.

The novel is beautifully written with a topical theme. It moves along at a good pace but not at the expense of characterisation nor of the atmosphere of Venice; I could really feel the intense heat of a Venetian summer hitting me from the pages! In addition to these factors, and if the reader wishes to dig deeper, the book also raises several fundamental philosophical issues concerning, for example, trust, and the nature of guilt.

Thank you to publisher Grove Atlantic and to Netgalley for giving me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I am looking forward to reading the previous 28 books in the Brunetti series.

Donna Leon really evokes the feeling on Venice on a hot day. Unfortunately the plot was predictable and plodding. Leon is a popular author, but I found myself only reading to the end as I had been given an ARC. Although getting to the end was a relief, it was not satisfying. Leon did convey the boredom of Brunetti in the heat to the reader.

Another Brunetti masterclass

I have read most of Donna Leon’s books featuring Guido Brunetti and have enjoyed them all. I feel that I have come to know Guido and his family not only at home but also in his work. I have been to Venice but Ms Leon brings this beautiful city to life, warts and all, in a way no tourist guide ever does. I find that quite often the plot is almost incidental, I just wallow in the easy writing style and really enjoy hearing about Brunetti’s life, family and work.

However, a book review should include some details of the plot and, this time, Bruno is drawn into the world of water sanitation, which, presumably, is a very important job in Venice. Vittorio Fadetto works for a company called Spatutto Acqua sampling his area of Venice’s waterways for chemicals that could be harmful to the population. However, at the start of the book he has been killed in an apparent motorcycle accident where he went off the road. His wife, Benedetta Tosa, is in an end of life hospice dying of cancer and asks for the police to come and see her. Bruno and his workmate, Claudia Griffoni, go to the hospital where Benedetta tells them that her husband’s death was not an accident but was due to his accepting ‘bad money’.

Bruno investigates in his usual thorough way finding out exactly how the whole system of water sanitation works and with the assistance of one of my favourite characters throughout the series of books, Signora Elletra Zorzi, as always, solves the mystery.

The main reason that I have only given this book 4 stars is that I did not find the actual plot particularly interesting and the ending was quite unsatisfactory. It was still a joy to read this book but I do wonder whether Ms Leon is running out of good mysteries for Bruno to solve.

Dexter

Elite Reviewing Group received a copy of the book to review

Another book in the brunetti series and a great read as usual.I have read several books in the series and enjoyed all.