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 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.
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