The Golden Egg (Commissario Brunetti Book 22)

Very well written. Very grotesque story and a very sad one. I wish that Davide’s tragic life had been saved.

In most cases, the bold Venetian, Commissario Guido Brunetti solves important crimes in undesirable situations. Occasionally his superior, the Vice-Questore, elicits his help for often meaningless matters involving politicians or the very rich. This time, Brunetti is told to investigate the mayor’s son’s fiancée. She and a partner own a mask shop outside a busy shopping district. Shopkeepers complain they pay taxes to put tables outside their establishment; she does not. Yet the fiancée has not received a citation from Municipal Police. The mayor dreaded losing his bid for reelection because of partialities. Commissario Brunetti quickly solved the mayor’s dilemma concerning his son’s fiancée.Brunetti’s wife, Paola, told him of the sudden death of a 40 year-old, male, deaf mute that worked at their apparel care cleaners. Brunetti hadn’t noticed the man at their cleaners, nor did he know his name.Paola felt the man always looked sad. She felt ashamed everyone referred to him as the ‘boy,’ even though he was 40. Concerned that no one knew his name, Paola believed it their duty to help the family. She asked Brunetti to investigate.Greatly surprised the dead man, named Davide Cavanella, had committed suicide, Brunetti thought it questionable a deaf mute, or one less advanced mentally could be suicidal. Davide had drank hot chocolate and taken colorful sleeping pills, suspecting the pills as candy. The Medical Examiner believed it not surprising that the deaf might be more likely to kill themselves.Questions swirled around Davide’s death. Brunetti discovered himself in a situation offering no prospects of progress—neighbors and tavern owners refused to talk about the dead man. The apparel care cleaners did not offer much information. Unmarried Ana Cavanella, Davide’s mother, dealt with his death in a calm accepting way. She too refused to comment on her son’s passing.Suspicious, Brunetti elicited his assistants, as well as a female Commissario to assist him in the investigation. They learned there was no evidence of Davide having ever existed in Italy; he did not have a carta d'identità—identity card, nor were there dental records and very little medical information extracted from his physcian. Yet Brunetti was astonished and baffled to find Davide’s stunnngly impressive arwork displayed in the physician’s office. It appeared Davide was emotionally expressive.Brunetti struggled with Ana Cavanella to reveal why there was no information of Davide’s existence. But stalwart, Ana was full of deceit and encrusted in lies and defensiveness, stating her wallet and Davide’s information was stolen, that she and her husband lived in France, where Davide was born, but she could not remember the town. They returned to Venice. Her husband abandoned them and returned to France. Although very little is offered by neighbors and peers at her former place of employment, Brunetti finds Ana was not married, nor considered a virtuous woman by some, ignorant and a viper by others.Undaunted, Brunetti refused to give in to Ana’s lack of cooperation. The mystery about Davide dominated his thoughts. Several puzzling questions concerning Davide remained unanswered.More characters appeared such as an aristocratic family and Ana Cavanella’s temporarily disbarred lawyer friend who provided ‘legal information.’ Nothing will impede Commissario Brunetti’s path in finding out the point of where Davide’s existence began. Hidden deception is exposed with a surprising twist.I believe the book should have addressed Ana’s failure and responsibility concerning Davide’s life and death.In the past, I’ve read several of Donna Leon’s murder mysteries. They also address important social issues, such as the environment crisis in Italy, political corruption, illegal immigrants, secret world of the Gypsies, and white slavery.Leon’s book briefly focused on some of the stereotypes used for the deaf or how they are perceived. They too are creative and imaginative. They too become depressed, but with mental illness being more prevalent, and are at greater risk to harm themselves.I gave this book four stars.

I read The Golden Egg in Venice in June of 2013. While there, we walked around Donna Leon's city for eight days, even stopping for a drink at a café in the campo outside her house. I read the book again recently when I realized I hadn't written a review and didn't remember enough to write a decent review. In between, I had read the whole series of Louise Penny's Chief Inspector Armand Gamache mysteries, set in Quebec. I was surprised that I loved The Golden Egg less on second reading and in comparison to Penny's more intricate and thorough plotting.Commissario Guido Brunetti is a caring detective whose personality is always in the foreground. He and his family have become very real to me over the years, and I will never pass up an opportunity to spend time with him. I especially liked two aspects of The Golden Egg's plot. First, Leon weaves a consistent theme of the importance of words and language from the beginning. Second, she continues to explore Brunetti's own discomfort with the subterfuge, informal networks, and illicit computer hacking on which the good guys rely in their investigations.I made some relevant points about the plots of the Commissario Guido Brunetti mysteries in my earlier review of Drawing Conclusions:"Brunetti, his colleague Vianello, and Signorina Elletra, the civilian employee upon whose computer hacking they rely, follow the clues methodically as in the best police procedurals. However, their investigations are far from dry procedurals due the unusual geography of Venice and the need for novel approaches that evade the corrupt bureaucracy that includes their own superiors. Leon seems to treat the crimes in her novels less as interesting in themselves and more as vehicles to make other points about Venice, Italy, and human nature. Intersections of the investigations with Brunetti's family life give both Brunetti and the reader perspective and reinforce Leon's themes."Here, as in earlier Brunetti books, there is ambiguity in the crime--this ambiguity has a downside. The plot of this book is much less compelling and certainly less intricate than those of the Louise Penny books. There was no urgency in the investigation, and the book was not too hard to put down; the fact that I had to re-read it for this review is telling. As other reviewers have pointed out, there are some flaws, or at least unanswered questions, in the logic of Leon's plot. Leon seems to be allowing Commissario Brunetti increasing leeway to investigate incidents that might not even be crimes and increasing (too much) latitude in whether to actually prosecute perpetrators. This investigation seemed to matter less than many of those in the past.New readers should start with earlier Brunetti books. I would rate the character depiction much higher than the plot in The Golden Egg. Overall, I'd give the book 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4.

I lay my colours out first. I am a devout Leon Fan. I love Venice having discovered it, so to speak, over 20 years ago, and started Commissario Brunetti books with "Death at La Fenice" her first novel. It would be interesting, if I can find it, to read that one again and compare the two. I read her latest in just 3 days and have a problem with writing an opinion. It's a page turner for me, but would it be for someone new to the books of Leon? Somehow I don't think so. I love all the usual ingredients of all her novels - Family/Wife/Children/Food, and the city (I walk with him on his strolls through Venice), his colleagues (all of them inc Foa), and indeed, the plots, which is where I feel this one may not be a hit with newcomers (though I sincerley hope I am wrong). The plot is different, and to say more might be to give too much away, but, like characters in the book, I asked "Why are you doing this?". But bravo to Leon for trying something a bit different. I loved it, whilst still feeling an uneasy sense of being disapointed. But, needless to say, I will continue to buy while she continues to write.

After reading and enjoying all the previous 21 books in the Brunetti series I felt I knew the characters, the locations, and the author, and looked forward to this the latest volume. Sadly I found it disappointing by comparison. Like a pale shadow of a Brunetti mystery. Lacking the detail that usually fascinates. Lacking the insight into human relationships that I usually admire. Lacking credibility in several scenes, and even the central plot is a bit thin and far fetched. And (I'm sorry) even boring in places. For example, a click by click description of someone making a Google search, explaining all the things they find that are no help and not what they want, and ending with them turning away from the computer and saying let's try something else. If I'd been the editor, those few pages would have vanished instantly, and the story wouldn't have noticed.If I reviewed the first 21 books, I'd probably give nearly all of them 5 stars; maybe one or two just 4. But the Golden Egg is lucky t get 3 stars from me.

Like other reviewers before me I have read all of the Brunetti novels and admire Donna Leon, thanking her for hours of pleasure over the years.This tale, The Golden Egg, however, disappoints: it is slack, with not an ounce (or gram) of tension. Even the splendid backdrop of Venice is having an dull day.And am I the only one that is starting to find Brunetti's utopian home life irksome?; it is an opportunity missed by Donna Leon to introduce parallel plotting tensions rather than serving up the bland contrast of total harmony and bourgeois comforts.Furthermore, description of dress is not enough to create character.Even the furbo senora Elettra, my favourite of Leon's creations is, here, pedestrian.

A young man with learning difficulties dies and it appears that he didn't exist - no birth certificate, social security no., schooling etc.. Brunetti gets the bit between his teeth and decides to investigate. That's basically it - a meandering investigation into what was probably an accident. Don't get me wrong it is a sad tale but it's not really crime fiction and there was a lot of familiarity in the themes - Elettra doing her usual hacking, Brunetti feeling inadequate and several rants on the subject of corruption at all levels of government. I don't think this would encourage a new reader to go any further in the series, so if you are a new reader go further back to start the series.

Nothing to dislike about a Donna Leon book. As perceptive as ever. A deft hand exposing more corruption in an everyday way with the humanity and integrity of its main characters