As Venice emerges from the pandemic, Donna Leon's Commissioner Brunetti confronts a case worthy of staging at La Fenice.

A neighbor from his childhood fears her son-in-law is involved in something illegal. He has warned his wife that they could be in danger.

Brunetti calls in the troops -- the computer wizard secretary, his co-workers, his mother-in-law -- to get to the heart of the matter.

Without resorting to murder, Leon still composes a tragedy.

Another winner from Leon. A childhood acquaintance of Brunetti requests that he look into her son-in-laws affairs. She feels that he may be in trouble and that it will affect her daughter. This leads Brunetti into a case of charitable fraud. As always an interesting mystery. I look forward to reading Leon’s memoir Wandering Through Life when it is published in the fall.

Another great addition to the Brunetti series - there is always comfort in how Brunetti works through things, concurrent with navigating family situations, even while the issues themselves are dark and disturbing.

Fraud is the theme of this installment of the Guido Brunetti series - both financial and personal. Brunetti is confronted by a person from his past - a childhood neighbor, Elisabetta, asks him as a favor to try to find out what is wrong with her son-in-law and why her daughter should be frightened and feel threatened. Since Elisabetta's mother was kind to him as well as his brother and mother, he makes an effort to see if there is something that could be wrong. The deeper he and a few of his team delve, the more it appears that it is Elisabetta's husband that is the problem, not her son-in-law.

Ah, the tangled webs we weave when first we practice to deceive. It was very entertaining to watch as the frauds are exposed and the ramifications.

Not one of her best, but still good to see Guido in action.

Another charming Guido Brunetti. I look forward to Donna Leon's books every year, and this one did not disappoint. It takes Guido into darker territory than usual, as a childhood acquaintance's request leads him down a path that sometimes challenges his honor as a police officer. As usual, the book is very well-written, with delightful descriptions of Venice that make me want to visit, despite Guido's distaste for tourists.

Given Unto Others is the thirty-first book in Donna Leon’s popular series featuring Commisario Brunetti. As Venice struggles to recover from the effects of the Pandemic, Brunetti becomes involved in an investigation initiated by a casual acquaintance. She is worried that her daughter’s husband is involved in some questionable activities and asks for Brunetti’s help.

Give Unto Others is a slow, evenly paced mystery that also reveals pieces of Brunetti’s past and showcases his wisdom, gentle sense of humor, and kindness. As he and his team investigate misdeeds, there is the added bonus of traveling with them through the canals and streets of Venice. Donna Leon brings the city to life, making this series even more enjoyable.

I highly recommend this book as well as the entire series. Definitely a winner!

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a copy of this book for review.

Give Unto Others is the 31st Commisario Brunetti procedural by Donna Leon. Released 15th March 2022 by Grove Atlantic on their Atlantic Monthly Press imprint, it's 295 pages and is available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats.

For fans of the series, the author, her style, the characters, and the settings need no introduction. For readers unfamiliar with the author who are looking for a solid series (and I mean -the entire series- there's not a clunker in the lot), this could definitely be the answer. This is a gently paced book with perfectly three dimensional characters who are well drawn and acting believably true to nature. There is humor, pathos, humanity, and decency, if not always justice in the strictest legal sense. Although it's one of a series (and I heartily recommend reading them all), it works perfectly well as a standalone. As always, this series is wonderfully relevant, with deeply considered and nuanced philosophy, characters who really live and breathe and who aren't complete paragons or evil caricatures. Leon is certainly one of the deftest writers currently writing and her novels are a joy to read.

The mysteries are always engaging but I love the day-to-day of Brunetti's existence and his interactions with his colleagues and especially with his family. His children are now young adults. Their questions (especially his daughter's philosophical probing) are always worthwhile and thought provoking and often had me nodding along in sympathy with Brunetti's occasionally fraught conversational forays. There is a joyful exuberance in the descriptions, food, settings, and famous Venetian history and historical places which are wonderful to read. The author does a superb job of bringing them to life.

The unabridged audiobook version has a run time of 10 hours and 16 minutes and is narrated by David Colacci. He has a warm baritone voice and does a creditable job of the various accents (both male and female). Like all good narrators, I stopped noticing his voice after about 5 minutes unless I was concentrating on it. Sound and production quality are high throughout the read.

The language is relatively clean, a few minor swear words, nothing worse.

Highly recommended for fans of procedurals. The whole series is worthwhile and one that I revisit regularly. With 31 books extant at this point, it's a good choice for readers who want to deep dive and binge read a whole series. They're consistently good quality, engaging, well written reads.

Four stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

This is the 31st novel in one of my favorite mystery series featuring Donna Leon’s Commissario Guido Brunetti. The action is centered in Venice, slowly recovering from the pandemic. A childhood acquaintance of Brunetti asks him to do her a favor and conduct a private investigation of her daughter’s fears that her husband has put them in danger. He enlists trusted colleagues to help in the investigation. After the daughter’s veterinary clinic is vandalized, it becomes a public police investigation. This slow paced mystery uncovers evidence of a charity-based financial crime, but the novel is more about the characters than the crime, revealing elements of Brunetti’s past. The work deals with loyalty, kindness, and the ravages of dementia. Each of Leon’s novels brings Venice to life.

By book #31 Donna Leon Commissario Brunetti's books became physiological monologues rather than mysteries.
Nevertheless, I love Commissario Brunetti's monologues, his family, and the dynamic of his relationships with colleagues and friends. Also, the glimpses of Brunetti's history are interesting,
I read Leon's novels more like trips into Venice, its life, and its people rather than straightforward mysteries.
If this is your cup of espresso, read on.

Commissario Brunetti is approached by an old acquaintance, Elisabetta, who is concerned that her son-in-law is involved in a shady business deal and she is worried about her daughter, Flora. Brunetti's family were tenants of Elisabetta's family when he was younger. She was a few years older so they didn't interact much but he feels obliged to help her because her mother was kind to his mother. He starts investigating along with his team and there is more to her request than he anticipated.

I enjoyed this and it was nice to get to know Guido and his team more. This was not a page turner, there was no flashy ending but it was more like a puzzle. The book is set in a post pandemic Venice as people try to adjust to the changes. Stores are closed, restaurants and cafes are struggling and people who are used to hugging and touching aren't sure what to do. Venice sounds absolutely beautiful but a nightmare to get around.

I am looking forward to reading more in this series. Thank you to Netgalley and Grove Atlantic for providing me with a digital copy.

Just because the cruise ships are no longer be coming to Venice, and life is much quieter there because of the Pandemic, doesn’t mean Brunetti no longer has much crime to deal with. He offers to help an old friend investigate her fears of danger to her daughter. He gathers his loyal team and discovers far more than expected, including a scam involving a Belize Medical charity. Fans will enjoy this mystery, which ends very differently from the other Commissario Guido Brunetti mysteries.

We have a new look into Brunetti’s past with this installment and he feels that he must d perform an investigation as a favor for an old casual acquaintance.
Many thanks to Grove Atlantic and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

CW: COVID-19; callous disregard for animal safety

Synopsis: Venice is still fairly tourist-free because of the COVID-19 pandemic. A woman who was a neighbour of Brunetti when they were both teenagers comes to him because she is worried for her daughter. Brunetti agrees to look into potentially shady things the woman’s son-in-law may be involved in.

▪ 31st book in the series! I can hardly believe I read that many. If you don’t know Brunetti by now, here’s a short overview: he is a gentle police detective, lover of literature and married to an English literature professor, with two teenage children and very privileged in-laws. He is compassionate, disapproving of political and moral corruption, but unlikely to rock the boat. The books in this series are soothing and tend to give me hope that there may still be decent people in the world.

▪ Weirdly disappearing pandemic. I never realized before how much current events are reflected in the books of this series. This one is, of course, set during the Pandemic, if not at the height of it. Yet despite the multiple mentions of it and its effects on the life of the city and its economy, the realities of living during the Pandemic somehow disappear at various points in the book. In the beginning, a lot of attention is given to the characters’ positions in a room, their hesitancy towards physical contact, the wearing and removal of masks, but after a time this all falls away. It’s as if the author couldn’t commit to setting her book during the Pandemic. It’s very understandable (aren’t we all exhausted of it), bit it felt a bit off.

▪ Characters and setting. I admit I read these books more for the characters and setting than for the plot. That’s basically the attraction of long-running mystery series: I read them to send time with old friends. For that reason, this book was really satisfying.

▪ Mystery was a bit meandering. Again, this may be the price of a long-running mystery series: sometimes the plot isn’t as gripping as the characters. The stakes of the mystery were low, so the tension remained low as well. It did provide for an interesting look at Brunetti’s adolescence, which was very interesting.

This was a lovely stroll through Venice with beloved characters, spiced up with a bit of mystery. Very pleasant read, but not exceptionally memorable.

What I love about the Donna Leon books is that Venice is like another character. The setting descriptions put you right there and the characters are so true to life.

Care to languish in the newest Brunetti mystery? Of course, you do! Donna Leon continues to skillfully introduce new characters and their characteristics in Give unto Others. Once again descriptive analogies and long pauses in conversations provide time for calm pondering of actions and motives. Leon showcases Brunetti’s common sense wisdom and gentle sense of humor - “Do we have a sell-by date on this favor…?” His musings on the pandemic seem fresh and hit an international chord. Venice beckons. You’ll savor (and perhaps stay up late) catching the water taxis with Brunetti as he consults his colleagues and gets lost in his thoughts. Another gem in the series!

Another walk through the now quiet streets and canals of Venice with Brunetti. A very welcome walk for me.

Quiet because covid has taken away the tourists. Beloved and hated at the same time. It's a strange Venice without them.

Leon takes a look at the 'memory of kindness' done to us especially when we are young. How this kindness than colours how we think of those associated with us and how we have to rethink what we've built our past on when we are much older and have more pieces to the puzzle.

An ARC gently given by author/publisher via Netgalley

This latest in Leon's Brunetti series is current enough to take place during the covid pandemic, which of course is wreaking havoc on Venice tourism. Brunetti is contacted in confidence by a distant childhood friend who is vaguely concerned that her adult daughter has been placed in danger by her husband's actions. With little to go on, and working somewhat outside of normal channels, Brunetti and his staff uncover the clues and piece together the situation without much fanfare. As usual with Leon's mysteries, Venice plays a major part and sets a lovely stage for Brunetti's work.

I haven’t read a book by this author in decades so when I saw the name, I jumped at the chance to get back into her work. Give Unto Others did not disappoint. Being transported to Venice alone was worth the read of this fast paced, well written book. I was reintroduced to the wonderful Brunetti, who is his own unique type of Commissario, and got to know a bit more of his early life as this story begins with an acquaintance from the past calling in a favor of a kind.
If I were to describe the actual plot and mystery, I think this book might sound boring and it’s not. There are no dead bodies but there is a kind of nostalgic, almost philosophical musing of the nature of friendship and family and what do we owe each other. There is also much contemplation on aging and dementia. This is one of the first books I’ve read where the author has to deal with the pandemic as a backdrop and it’s interesting to see how Leon addresses it without it becoming a theme. Venice is suffering from the effects and mention is made of lasting changes that won’t fade soon.
I loved this book and devoured it in one day. I’m not sure how she keeps the suspense going but the combination of interesting characters, Italian food, customs, culture, images of everyone hopping on boats instead of cars and the slow burn worked for this reader. I want to go to Venice! I am motivated to go back and see if I’ve missed any of Leon’s backlist and I know I have a lot more Brunetti books to read. This author knows how to tell a compelling story and how to paint the scene in amazing detail.

GIVE UNTO OTHERS by Donna Leon is book 31 in the mystery series set in Venice which features Commissario Guido Brunetti. In this latest selection, we need to talk about Bruno del Balzo, the husband of Elisabetta Foscarini, herself a former neighbor of Brunetti. Initially Elisabetta asks for Brunetti's unofficial help due to disquiet about her daughter and accountant son-in-law; there's an implication that it involves some financial irregularities and Brunetti struggles with questions of loyalty and whether he should be asking his colleagues to investigate this rather personal matter. Without a murder or actual crime, the story revolves more around the psychological motivation of characters and Leon assumes that readers are familiar with long-time colleagues of Brunetti. An engaging story in a beautiful setting, GIVE UNTO OTHERS received a starred review from Booklist.

Thanks to Netgalley for an ARC of this book, in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I have read and enjoyed every book in this series - beginning in 2015 when I was getting ready for a trip to Italy, including a weekend in Venice. I fell in love with this series at book 1, and have never stopped grabbing each book in the series as soon as I could get my hands on it!

Not surprisingly, the series has evolved through its 31 installments. Different books have focused on different issues - the state of official corruption in Venice, Brunetti's wife and children and his colleagues, and the difficulties in untangling the cases he becomes involved in, working through the complicated bureaucracies with which he has to deal. Throughout the series, we have also seen how he must sometimes use somewhat surreptitious methods to get the information he needs.

In this book, the focus is on Brunetti's past, and how unspoken loyalties impel him to take actions that he later comes to question. We see how there's a strong compulsion to help someone, not because he actually knows her or is convinced of the rightness of her request, but because her mother was good to him and his family. As the book moves along, he begins to realize that the memory of a child is not necessarily something to rely upon.

Once again, his colleages also demonstrate their loyalties to him, helping him deal with a somewhat dubious cause, and never turning against him - so, again, loyalty is a strong theme, and one which plays an enormous part in this book. Following the plot as it unfolds is compelling - and I was unable to stop once I got started!

Another compelling entry in the Brunetti series!