A refiner's fire

There are certainly more violent crimes that inspire gripping police procedurals, but in the thirty-third installment of Leon's beloved Venetian mystery series showcasing the emotional depth and intellectual acumen of Commissario Guido Brunetti, a late-night dustup between teenage rival gangs has far-reaching impact. Maybe the altercation has less to do with what the "baby gangs" are doing than what the father of one teen did as a member of the Carabinieri police force. The national press once regarded Dario Monforte as a hero for his actions during a terrorist bombing in the Iraq war, yet Brunetti can find no official acknowledgement of his alleged act of valor. When Monforte's son is caught up in the gang activity, Brunetti's colleague Claudia Griffoni takes a special interest in the boy's demeanor and background, leading to charges of scandalous impropriety. With the understated elegance and empathy imbued throughout this internationally acclaimed series, Leon once again examines the confluence of solid police work with issues of redemption and social justice.HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Following Leon's memoir, Wandering through Life (2023), her fans will be even more intrigued by the latest Brunetti investigation.

A tussle between two of Venice's "baby gangs" leads Commissario Guido Brunetti into a tangled mystery whose extended reach would be remarkable for anyone but him. After all but one of the teenage boys who've been arrested are released to their parents' custody, Commissario Claudia Griffoni offers to walk home the last of them, Orlando Monforte, who's afraid to call his father. The reasons why, Griffoni learns as the two of them stop for a pre-dawn cup of coffee, are obvious. As the Hero of Nasiriyah, whose actions saved two comrades from being killed by a bomb during their service in Iraq, Dario Monforte has high expectations for his son's probity (don't engage in gang fighting) and masculinity (don't get caught). Although Orlando warns Griffoni he's heard whispers from his schoolmate Gianpaolo Porpora that something big is in the offing, trouble next strikes elsewhere, in a murderous attack on Enzo Bocchese, the Questura's chief lab technician, whose plans to sell most of his valuable collection of sculptures are upended by whoever breaks in and destroys them. In the meantime, there's more whispering--but this time, it's about Griffoni, who was photographed and identified at that coffee shop by someone who tipped off peerlessly shady avvocato Beniamino Cresti. Cresti, apparently acting on behalf of the elder Monforte, threatens to end Griffoni's career if she doesn't accept a restraining order that prohibits her from any contact with Orlando. As usual in Leon's books, the mystery plays second fiddle to the characters and relationships from whom hints of secret misbehavior gradually coalesce into revelations as sordid and violent as you could wish. Is all this really "the stuff of television drama," as Brunetti fears? Only of a very high order indeed. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.